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At The Door
Remember Someone Today
Nobody parting at the door ever says to their loved ones
— in case I never see you again . . .
If such a thought did bubble to the surface it would quickly be smothered with a hug.
The biggest of all elephants in the Life-shaped room.
Death is no big thing, but only to those without imagination.
Everyone who came in has gone out, or will.
Estimates—One hundred billion (100,000,000,000) have come before us.
Those first people controlling fire, the cave painters, wheel inventors
— the tens of thousands of pyramid builders under that same sun that is still overhead
— all the gladiators and the spectators cheering them on at the Colosseum
— the defenders of the Great Wall of China and the invaders who marched through
— all the friends, Romans, countrymen of Marc Antony
— tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors; the rich and the poor, beggers and thieves
— those preserved for centuries in ash at Pompeii
— every Crusader who tortured a wrong-believer
— the Vikings who got lost at sea and settled in Iceland
— every sailor on the La Niña, the Pinta, the Santa Maria
— all those abducted into slavery and their so-called owners
— all the participants of the Boston Tea Party
— all who heard Ned Kelly say ‘Such is life’ before his gallows drop
—…
