WE WERE ONCE LIKE YOU

Saints and sinners, now all late
Sleep silently beyond the gates
Where epitaphs abound

As whispers of a gentle breeze
Stir up the fallen Maple leaves,
We walk without a sound

Ahead the iron portals loom
as solemn mourners tread with gloom
the cobbled pathway through

whilst there upon the lintel read
a timeless message from the dead
that WE WERE ONCE LIKE YOU.

A twinge of pity for those gone
Absorbs me as I follow on
To gather at the grave

The preacher says that life is vain
There's hell to shun and heaven to gain
That's why we must be saved

My ringtone rudely rends the air
As duty calls. No time to spare
I must catch the next bus

I briskly move towards the gates
But halted by the words that state
YOU WILL SOON BE LIKE US.

That moment all my earthly plans
Seemed so inconsequential and
Eternity so real

The question is, when I return
What destiny would I have earned
From which there's no appeal?

This poem won first place for the June 2024 poetry contest