A New Poem from Adam Niswander

Blowing By
Adam Niswander

(A Farewell to my friend Gordon Walker
whose journey is now done)


Friendship.
We do not know why we connect with some
And call them “friend.”

Here, in this place where death is not a stranger,
We could be cautious,
We could hold back
We could avoid the risk of caring.

Those who came here
Are pilgrims on a journey
That began a lifetime ago,
And who arrive here at a final destination,
Pause for a while,
Then step beyond.

We know what lies ahead
For each and all.
Yet we open up,
And let the edges touch.

We share the wonder
And the dread,
And allow ourselves to feel.

There is a spirit of adventure in the best of them,
A reluctance to surrender and let go,
Stubbornness.
We share a taste for life that has not grown stale,
A need to touch and feel one last time
Before strength has gone for good.

We all know why we came here,
And we share the anticipation,
But even we,
Those who are so close,
Do not know which journey will be long,
Which journey will be short.

So we live the moments,
Savoring each bite of life,
Storing all the nourishment we can.

We see the humor,
The cartoons we make just being people,
The Joke of following the rules
When the rules no longer matter,
Laugh at the exasperation of rebellion,
Weep as instants slip away.

We fight against the dark,
The pain,
The unknown.

We hear voices echoing in the hall
Of those who passed this way before.
We briefly peer beyond the curtain
Before we cross,
Sometimes seeing things that others don’t.

There is quiet strength,
And noble dignity,
And heroism.
But all surrender in the end.
No strength can last against relentless dark,
And noble dignity must fail at last,
And heroism—the strength to stand one’s ground
While faced with the unknown—unflinching
At last must fade.

The fight is done,
And death victorious.
But now
The adventure starts anew
Reluctance has no place
For here we leave “what was” behind
And welcome “that which is to be.”

One journey’s end,
And finally becoming.

Copyright 2012 by Adam Niswander and The Baryon Review