(In memory of John Lennon--
poet, songwriter, singer, music man,
and humane activist--
whose life was taken at age 40, on Deceber 8, 1980)


Nothing lasts forever;   
No great deed can stand.  
All sweet streams shall sever,  
And, seeking, sink in sand.   
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
No great love can last,  
No deep dream can live;  
The farthest future shall be past:  
God loans, He does not give.  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Emily Dickenson, with her strange new strains,  
Of sweet deep pain and longing love;  
And Robert Frost's portraits of joys and pains--  
Now both their souls have felt the final fatal shove.  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Marcus Aurelius wrote of death,  
As Epictetus did, and the torrent of time;  
And each in his turn breathed out his fleet life's breath;  
And even their cities fell to strong funereal chime.  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Peace and love and brotherhood,  
And hopes and hungers dwell and die;  
And Evil stalks and slays the Good;  
And the torturing Question cries out: Why?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
For me, the worst that went with the world's wild wind,  
That hurt my heart and poisoned all my pride,  
Was when I lost my music-friend: 
The day John Lennon died.


=======================
Written by Michael LP, aka PoetWithCancer
aka (thanks to my dear friend, Luna Marie) Mr. Poet
Copyright 2011 by Michael LP.  All rights reserved
(Copyrighted for my estate)