He said this to me, one cold autumn day,
"Everything in the world must fade away:
Our skin and our bones, what we're made of,
Ideas, and honor, and even love.
Thus, the great irony of all mankind:
Either we leave or we are left behind."
His dim outlook on life, deadened by frost
And memories of all things he had lost.
I then to him in reply, "Yes, perhaps.
Even the tallest building must collapse.
But do we not die so our kin might live?
Isn't that the greatest gift we could give?
In the hearts of our children we live on
Our love shall endure long after we're gone."
My optimism, so calm and serene
Not changed then by horrors I had not seen.
So we sat there that day, two wills opposed,
Watching the sun set with our four eyes closed.