PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

The sun slowly rises in a crystal-blue sky,

Casting its glow on puffy white clouds drifting by,

Spreading its warmth on fields where daffodils lie;

Maybe it's the first thing we see when we die.

Laughter greets the day from wayward children,

Clever conversations in hushed tones among men,

Swishing of ladies' skirts to and fro from women;

Morning greets the tombstones in Paradise Glen...



A solemn procession crooses an open field,

Where enemy soldiers once lay concealed,

Walking where history was made, secrets revealed;

Waking slumbering heroes whose fates were sealed

On the plains of Gettysburg in 1863,

Pitting brother against brother, buddy against buddy,

When the War Between The States was at its most bloody,

Saving the Union so that slaves could be free...



A different scene might unfold in a famous city,

Where an equally famous walk honors the celebrity

Of those who made us laugh, cry, or sing a ditty,

Recalling when men were men and women were pretty.

Where an actor or an actress left his or her mark

Is now home to a street walker's square, a tour guide's bark;

Where we used to see their images flicker in the dark,

Is now just a part of a sprawling amusement park.





In a hospital in a war-torn village somewhere,

Yet another scene plays itself out under the sun.

A suicide bomber, in his religious zest to prepare

For the afterlife that waits for everyone

Who serves Allah, bravely lights the fuse

That will send him there, and others as well.

He will soon see that it was nothing but a ruse

To inprison himself in his own private Hell.



Minutes later, as the smoke begins to clear,

The souls of the newly departed joyously look on

As a new soul begins its journey without fear:

Its proud mother smiling as if welcoming the dawn.

A new life begins as others come to an end;

Men can destory, but God still creates:

The departed soon leave as a new door is opened,

Leading to an afterlife that dutifully awaits.



Somewhere out there, a lonely gatekeeper starts to smile

As he counts the number of souls he has received.

Some good, some evil, all of them on file,

Learning that it's not as it was believed.

He knows that countless others still wait

To make the journey, "to seek a newer world", to move on..

Yet all souls share the same common fate:

So ends, and begins, another day in the Great Beyond.







Patrick W. Hopkins                                  12/17/2006