"To Live"
Claire Arnold - 2023
What proves that you have lived?
Is it the breath slowly drifting in and out of your mouth?
The oxygen that cools the tip of your tongue?
Do these things prove you are alive?
In death will you be remembered
For the amount of breaths you took?
Or the amount of steps you traveled?
Does that mean you lived?
If there is nothing left behind
How will they know?
Would you fade off into a dream?
A phantom of thought
A wistful afternoon of drinks
And your name passes
Like a small gust in a sentence
Unable to even shake a leaf
Have you lived if there is nothing left behind?
No story to tell
Not a soul to mourn
Are you alive if you exist without consequence?
Without record of your footprint
Will anyone know you died?
That you lived in the first place?
Claire Arnold - 2023
What proves that you have lived?
Is it the breath slowly drifting in and out of your mouth?
The oxygen that cools the tip of your tongue?
Do these things prove you are alive?
In death will you be remembered
For the amount of breaths you took?
Or the amount of steps you traveled?
Does that mean you lived?
If there is nothing left behind
How will they know?
Would you fade off into a dream?
A phantom of thought
A wistful afternoon of drinks
And your name passes
Like a small gust in a sentence
Unable to even shake a leaf
Have you lived if there is nothing left behind?
No story to tell
Not a soul to mourn
Are you alive if you exist without consequence?
Without record of your footprint
Will anyone know you died?
That you lived in the first place?