Comfort Zone Poem by Laurence Overmire

We are all alive and on the planet
Was a thought that came to me
Often in the not-too-distant
Long ago
And there was comfort in that
Present tense, security
Safe and sound
The way a child
Surrenders in its mother's arms.

I realized then, death would take us all
One by one, the future inexorably unmerciful
Until our little family unit
Five of us, pitted together against the world
Was no more
Counting down from the beginning
5,4,3,2
My sense of self diminished
Soul by soul.

I stand here now alone
None are alive and on the planet
Save me
Save. Me.
I cannot save myself
For I too, am lost
And will wander and wonder
Until my last breath is extinguished
And all of us are no more.
All of us in our common place
No more.

And someone else will see a sunrise
And someone else will find a moment
The sad, sweet reassuring moment
Just before.

~ Laurence Overmire