Moon Shadows

Life is full of losses.
Nobody warns you.
You learn,
one loss at a time.

I could lose my eyes,
my legs,
my mouth,
but I’m not as cavalier about it
as Cat Stevens. He doesn’t say
that what you really lose
with each of these losses
is your independence.

Some losses are necessary,
like innocence,
or inevitable,
like virginity.

Some people never lose
gullibility.
Politicians and salespeople count on it.

We lose our looks,
plastic surgery notwithstanding.
It’s good to have character as a backup.

We lose lovers, parents, friends,
and we cope.

We lose children,
a loss I can’t even imagine,

and memories,
a loss worse than death.

When memories are gone,
do we welcome loss of life?
No one can tell us this,
or what lies on the other side.

Like all the lessons of loss,
it requires experience,
a step into the afterlife.
Maybe it isn’t loss at all.

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