January 25th, 2007

Have you tasted life?
Sucked out the marrow
Of its bones?

I was posed such a question
Two times in one day.
I smiled and gave a witty reply
But the answer was multipling
Inside me with growing intensity.

Have I?
What is the measure?

Have I truly been in love?
Have I changed someone's life?
Have I accomplished anything worth
a footnote in anyone's book?
No.
Have I ever stood naked in the field,
both challenging and embracing the chilled North current?

The point is, who can tell?
Who defines the lived life?
I want to taste it.
Its sweetness and the bitter.

To taste life is to taste free.