Apart From Death... Poem by RIC BASTASA

sometimes
we are shocked with our
own sorrows

unable to accept
we deny it
and sometimes we
just let it pass
sleeping alone
in a room

we let the nights
pass
we listen to the
sound of the storm
passing by

we avoid it
but it simply comes
more often
misery, disappointments
loves unrequited

repeatedly, the numbness
comes
we finally become
attuned
like a radio signal
a TV channel
or that constant bickering
or that mosquito bite
which we consider
as nothing but
normal occurrences
now and then

and then we realize
ah, this is life
and nothing but life

apart from death

the one that makes
all that succumb to
it become
forgotten....