Everybody Leaves

We all walk away eventually
            we grow up
            we move on
            we get distracted
            we cease
                        to live, to move, to have our being
Nobody gets to stay forever
You’re just prolonging the inevitable
It’s life’s cruel joke
            that we long for stability and eternity
            but what we get is irony and finality
Two forces working against each other
Almost like they’re working together
            co-conspirators in life’s great caper
            it’s too complicated to put on paper
            we knit a legacy in hopes it will last
            we leave our mark to preserve our past
            we show up each day to make a difference we pray
            we can’t possibly know the full weight
                        of the fears and the tears and the stuff you can’t say . . .

All we can hope is that something will stick
That something will turn in your head and will click
A nugget of truth to take when you leave
To pass on to another to accomplish their dreams

                                   Everybody leaves
                                   Everybody goes
            The trick is to leave something that will take root and grow.