THE BIG QUESTION

    “Is there an afterlife, do you believe?”
    She asked just after we had gone to bed,
    Hoping from nothingness to find reprieve,
    That death is simply “passing on” instead.

    I could not say.  I do not know.  So I
    Replied, “Let’s just take one life at a time—
    Be sure we’ve fully lived before we die:
    Wasting this opportunity’s a crime.”

    Now in the dawn, in afterthought, I’d add
    That life and death are both such mysteries,
    Presuming we can know is simply mad,
    But there’s no harm supposing what we please.

         Why not let our imaginations rule?
         Supposing what you like, you’d be no fool.

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