We, all of us, have it –
fear in the night, trembling
at the horizon of our life – waiting
to unfold from the world, unknown
until the crystal moment
when we die with surprise.

We, all of us, battle
to sleep with the knowledge:
our hearts, our stomachs, holding
this sadness, our terror – alternating
which rise and fall with tides of living:
a bird flashing in the sun, then gone.

We, all of us, have the solution: embrace it.
This one pain is certain; learn to love it.
Smile in the blackness
at this strange elevation – it won’t be long.
Join in the chorus and chant of life
for it cannot destroy us, this fact that we die.