Here Now

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  • Living Now

    Here Now


    I am here now
    I am here today.
    I am here right now.
    If I had a hundred more years to live,
    I would not now be the more here than I am.
    If I had only one more week to live,
    I would not now be any the less here than I am.
    This day, this hour, this minute would be the same,
    Whether I had three days left—or three hundred years.
    The length of light does not change how bright the flame.
    I am caught between flowers and fears,
    Between the beautiful bright reality of now,
    And all my fears of what the future may be;
    The great fear: that the future may be pain.
    The greatest fear: that the future may not even be.
    Whenever I can, I must let go of these fears.
    They do not give me one second more of life,
    Let alone save me from losing years.
    Instead, the world—despite prospects of breaking blight,
    Still with blessings running rich and rife—
    Loses its magic when frozen by fears, becoming bereft of light.
    Even though I am afraid, I can still be brave.
    Fear will not save me from the grave.
    To have courage to fight through the fear,
    Can help me make the most of now being here.
    And help me make the best of what I’ve got, while I’ve got it.
    Fear cannot stop the coming night;
    Fear only diminishes the dwindling day.
    And what of all my deep regret and bitter sorrow?
    This truth to say:
    Regret and sorrow only take away from today;
    They do not give me one tomorrow.
    I must seek peace before I cease.
    I must seize the remainder of my life somehow,
    And be here now.



    --Written by Michael LP, aka MLP
    aka PoetWithCancer, aka PWC, aka Mr. Poet
    Copyright © 2010 by Michael L.P.   All rights reserved

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    abuelita1 commented on Here Now

    11-23-2010

    Yes, you are here. How grateful I am for that. You have brought such richness to my life. Thank you for that.....Love....

    Poetry is what is lost in translation.

    Robert Frost (1875-1963) American Poet.

    PoetWithCancer’s Poems (224)

    Title Comments
    Title Comments
    Happy Winter Solstice 1
    Seasonal Ring 1
    My Thanksgiving 0
    God's Word 1
    Under the Date Tree 1
    A Few More Times 1
    Divine and Diabolical World 0
    Summer-Brief 2
    Seasonal Ring 0
    Shakespeare's Birthday and Death 0
    Special Brian 0
    I Remember Brian 0
    Light of Life 0
    Pain Has Defeated Me Today 1
    The Old, Old Words 0
    Home Is Where the Heart Is 0
    A Sad Contemplative Christmas Today 0
    Moments of Memory; In Memory of Moments 0
    Sun and Rain, Joy and Pain: I Miss My Friend Brian 0
    Dehumanized and Clinicized--N
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    Not Full 0
    Love, Loss, and Lennon 0
    Dying Dream 0
    Brian's Pure Love for His Lady 0
    Two Loved Ladies Undergoing Surgery Now 0
    The Masks Fall Off at Midnight 1
    Prime of Life 1
    Low Energy and Less Time: And Too Many Things to Do 1
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    Thanksgiving 0
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    Brian's Birthday and New Year's Eve 0
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    Deep Time 0
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    Nobody 0
    Feeling the Wind 0
    The Wild Doe and the Hunter 0
    Happy Birthday, Brian 0
    The End of the World: Saturday, May 21, 2011, 6 pm PDT 1
    Brian's Special Smile 0
    Broken Birth 0
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    The Ways and the Words of You 1
    Stone Cry 0
    Amore Immortale 0
    Reality and Unreality 1
    Lyrical Life 1
    Easter 0
    Shakespeare's Birthday 0
    Friends During Need 1
    Death--A Play--or the Final Act 0
    Moods 0
    I Was Worried About You 0
    Song of Life 2
    Me 1
    Oh Mother of My Life, My Mind, My Heart--Happy Birthday (Sunday, April 3, 2011) 0
    Your Money or Your Life 1
    Poesis 0
    A Last Look at the Moon 0
    Tears for Brian: My Tears Spring Suddenly 0
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    Clusters 1
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    Five Human Haiku (Senryu): Faithful to the Perfect Form 0
    The Scream 3
    Life Is 8
    Following My Friend 3
    Small Moments (Written by Patricia, for Brian) 1
    For Precious Michael (Written by Patricia, for me) 4
    Dream of Life, Dream of Friendship, Dream of Love 4
    The Power to Create 4
    A Single Fortune Cookie 6
    The Meaning of Life 2
    Dreamless 3
    Prayers 3
    Lost Love 2
    I Thank My Mother for My Birthday and for Her Wonderful Mother Love 3
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    All the Way with Part Way 2
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    Dreaming and Seeming 3
    Poem Prayer 2
    Science, Poetry, Philosophy, and More 2
    Super A, Abuelita1--Th
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    Someday-Dying 2
    Between Yes and No 3
    Love of Life 1
    Zappa the Magnificent 1
    In the Midst of Life 2
    Only One Death 1
    Real Illusion 1
    The Unknown 1
    My Apparently Known Possible Fates in This World 1
    No More Me 2
    Someone 2
    Leaving Life 1
    Precious Jade 2
    Fear and Grief and Going: Unguilty of the Grave 1
    Using and Losing Time 1
    Loveless Life 2
    Good Life, Good Grief 1
    Dreamless 1
    Ontology versus Oncology 1
    Now Time 2
    No Present, No Future: All Past 3
    Hippocratic Hell 1
    First Light 2
    Almost At the Limit [--A Sonnet] 1
    Death-Trap 0
    Broken 1
    Birthday Termination 1
    Moments 1
    First and Last Cry 1
    Love 2
    Final Fragility 1
    End of the World 1
    Tripping 1
    Seasonal Ring 1
    Gifts that Go and Still Stay 1
    Sidney Says: Advice to Poets and All Writers 3
    Enthusiasm: God Within 3
    Send Me Your Good Will, or Pray For Me--Please 1
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    Snow Man for a Low Man 0
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    New Year, No Love 2
    Poetic Form 0
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    About Me 1
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    Nothing Special 2
    Why a Writer Writes 2
    To Sarah Y and Her Beloved Little Boy Who Cries Out: Again! 1
    I and You: Unique and the Same 1
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    Health-Care Reform and Hell on Earth 3
    Psyche 3
    My Bucket List (For Now) 4
    My Most SCARED Moments 2
    Children of the Stars 2
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    Why More Now? 1
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    Another Thursday, Another Hammer 4
    Thursday's Hammer 1
    New Birthday 2
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    To Angel Eyes: The Wonders of Your Life 1
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    Light for the Fight 2
    All That I Have 3
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    The Exile 2
    Incurable and Terminal 4
    Tripping 2
    One More Tomorrow 1
    My Dash 4
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    No More Romeo; No More Juliet 1
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    My Cry 1
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    A Loser, True 2
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    Entre Enfer 1
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    Once 3
    The Haiku Form 2
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    From Night to Night 3
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    Death in Life 3
    Unknown Final Fate 3
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    Art 5
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    Ameliorator 5
    Thanksgiving 7
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    Failure's Fortress 13
    Song of Life (Original Version) 13