THE END

By Alex Gibbs

Section One: 

You say we only die once,

but I disagree.

I say we die twice.

The first time when we take our last breaths, 

and the second time when our names are uttered

for the final time,

and we are forgotten.

Over the billions of lives

that have come and gone,

very few have managed to evade

dying a second time.

Most people are forgotten after a century or two.

After all, most people's stories

aren’t carried much longer than a few generations.

However, some people have escaped

the grips of a second death.

These people have created and cultivated

such a large legacy,

that their names are remembered

hundreds and thousands of years after 

their skeletons decay into soil and dust.

Socrates, Rembrandt, Van Gogh,

Michelangelo, Lincoln, Washington,

Alexander the Great, Shakespeare, Plato,

Caesar, Einstein, Roosevelt, Luther

Luther King Jr, Newton, Davinci,

Khan, Freud, and Nietzsche.

Some days I find myself wondering

whether I would like to leave a quiet,

yet profound legacy on the world,

or

be remembered and talked about 

for hundreds and thousands of years longer

than I ever lived.

I suppose that

only time will tell which direction 

I chose

or 

what direction chooses me.

Section Two:

 We often overlook how often 

 death appears in our lives.

Every so often, 

something dies around us.

Perhaps an object that has

lost its use,

or an idea that has faded

from someone's mind,

or the death of someone's dream,

or the death of a relationship.

Despite the fact that we are

surrounded by all kinds of death

we seem to fixate on the death of humans.

After all, the idea of human mortality

is a fascinating one.

Year by year,

we grieve and process death constantly.

We move forward through anger, fear, sadness,

confusion, and nostalgia.

We come to terms with what we have lost

and move on with our lives.

Is life all about dealing with loss?

Is the idea of death synonymous with change?

Is life about coming to terms with changes?

Lately, I find myself philosophizing about these things,

and how my life is about to change in a few months,

when I head off to college and grow into an adult.