One Life To Live Poem by Natasa To

One Life to Live

We get one life—
one cup of coffee cooling by the window,
one summer rain tapping silver
against the kitchen glass,
one pair of muddy shoes
left beside the door.

One morning to watch the sun
spill gold across the rooftops,
to hear a train groan in the distance,
to feel cold grass beneath bare feet
and warm hands wrapped around someone
you never want to let go.

So love while the door is still open.
Call your mother.
Kiss the forehead of the one you love.
Take the long way home
just to watch the sky turn orange
behind the telephone wires.

Say yes to the ocean
even when the water is cold.
Climb the hill when your lungs burn.
Dance barefoot in the kitchen
with the music turned too loud.
Plant something small
and wait for green leaves
to push through dark soil.

Life will not always be gentle.

There will be hospital hallways
washed in fluorescent light,
empty chairs at dinner tables,
photographs that hurt to touch,
and nights when the ceiling
is the only thing listening.

There will be doors that close
with a sound you remember for years.
There will be rain-soaked letters,
missed chances,
goodbyes whispered at bedsides,
and names you can no longer call.

But even then—
look for the stubborn things:

A dandelion splitting concrete.
Steam rising from a bowl of soup.
A child's laughter from the next room.
The first bird singing
after a storm.

Keep going.

You were not given forever.
You were given mornings,
heartbeat by heartbeat,
like coins in an open palm.

So spend them.

Spend them on people.
On places you've never seen.
On apologies that need saying.
On hands held beneath hospital blankets.
On midnight drives with the windows down.
On birthday candles trembling in the dark.
On standing beneath a sky full of stars
and realizing, for one impossible second,
how much there is to be grateful for.

One life.

One fragile, unfinished story.

And someday,
when the last page comes
and the light begins to fade,
may your hands be worn from holding,
your feet sore from wandering,
your heart crowded with names,

and may you whisper—

I was here.

I saw the sunrise.
I felt the rain.
I loved.
I lost.
I laughed until I cried.

I was given one life,

and I lived it.