Gone

When young people die I always think
"That doesn't seem fair."
But then I think of how life hangs by
such a delicate thread
and it's all over so very soon anyway.
Nobody is guaranteed the next few minutes
and so there is really no such thing
as a 'premature death.'
Soon we will all be dead longer than the
pyramids were ago.
We all only taste life on the tip of our tongue
and then it's gone,
gone like the sun falling in a purple sky,
gone like a campfire in the rain,
gone like the feeling of joy at your graduation,
gone like that look in her eyes as she held your hand,
gone like your unborn children,
gone like the bait on your grandson's line,
gone like the daylight as you close your eyes
and fall into a long pleasant slumber.