I am a fleeting flame

to be blown out soon enough by

the same cosmic force

that infused me, enthused me,

pursued me while i was whiling

and whirling my way though

decades of days, each one

marked by 10 or more hours of bleak

darkness I dismissed as dreamland,

knowing, for sure, like everyone else,

that the high noon filled with sunshine

where I have lived inside a flimsy ego

mattered most, defined me as solid,

because why wouldn’t I choose to dance

with the soft, silky solace of delusion

in the face of sure annihilation?