This next heartbeat could be my last...

This was written when someone I knew died in a car accident. I wasn't close to him, but still, you can't ignore these things...


This next heartbeat could be my last.
With the next stroke of my pen I could fall,
Crumpled to the floor.
My lungs fail with this last exhale
Just as, that one rainy morning,
He drove on the water-covered streets.
The speed overcame; he lost control of the wheel.
Tires spinning, car swerving,
Then the impact.
His life flashed before his eyes while the metal twisted
And debris flew everywhere.
And in the blink of an eye,
A mind stopped thinking,
Lungs stopped breathing,
A heart stopped beating.
For even though the bud shows promise of a beautiful rose,
It may be knocked from the bush before it fully blooms;
The harsh winds show no mercy.
And the first beautiful flowers of spring,
The early blooms breaking through the decay
May sprout only to enter upon one fateful night
Where the ghosts of winter fill the air
And a trail is left in their wake,
But the new buds of vivacity, too frail to endure,
Are frozen and destroyed in the dawn of life.
Let every beat of your heart pulse with the love,
The inexplicable love,
Of friends,
Of family,
Of God.
For the sunrise is always followed by the dusk,
And while some see the midnight sun,
Some barely see light
Before the sun is plummeted beneath the mountains.