“The Love of Life”

How can one explain the love for life?

Does it begin each morning with the breath of a new day,

or just before the body surrenders to stillness at night?

Perhaps it’s not in the moments we wake or sleep,

but in the moments we remember.

Not the noise. Not the collecting of things —

for things only fill the hollow spaces for a short time.

The love I hold for life

is not bound to the date I arrived here.

It stretches beyond it —

through winding paths I’ve walked,

through time that feels shorter than the days I’ve lived.

The sun rises. The sun sets.

The moon glows and holds my whispered secrets.

I have walked shorelines

and let the tide carry my thoughts away.

And yet,

for all the beauty in the Sun and Moon,

the true passion I feel for life

is not in the sky,

but in the faces that have stayed with me.

They live in me —

not just as memories,

but how they Stay Forever in My Heart.