Beginning and Ending

Time
peels away
our certainty.

Nothing
we see as eternal
endures,
and, in the end,
no one we count on
will survive.

There is a flow
of beginning
and ending,
inexorable,
which we may prefer
not to see.

In this stream
of living and dying,
giving and taking,
we are buoyant
and drowning,
exuberant
and afraid.

Carried along
for a while,
we may find
some joy
in this ride,
sweetened,
if we’re able,
by accepting
its end.