PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

When I was young, I was walking through a park.
I saw an elderly man sitting alone at a bench.

I walked up to him and asked him something that had been on my mind.
"What is life worth?"

He didn't answer for a while, but then he said:
"We are worth nothing, no more than this dirt."

I was a little confused, but then I asked him:
"Does this mean life has no meaning?"

He was lost in thought for some time before saying:
"Life has meaning, but it cannot be valued"

This only seemed to add to my confusion, so I asked:
"If life has meaning, and can't be valued, then life is priceless?"

He frowned at me then, and said
"How can life be priceless, when we are forced to have worth?"

His answer scared me, but I was even further confused, so I asked:
"What do you mean, you said life has no worth?"

His lips cracked a small smile, he then pointed down and said,
"Life has meaning, but shouldn't cost more than this dirt"

I kinda understood what he meant at this point, thus I didn't say
anything for a while. We just kinda stared at each other, lost in
thought.

But then he said in a rather distant voice,
"We are born, this begins our value
We live, this proves our worth
We die, and become one with the dirt"

I felt like a dog just then, I'm pretty sure I tilted my head like one.
I thought I had understood him, but his answers were like riddles to me.
I processed what he said for a while then I asked,

"So life has value, but should only be for our families
Our lives prove our worth, but not our wealth
And when we die, it shouldn't bring others profit?"

He just smiled and said,
"We are all just dirt, being valued for our worth"