If I Were to Die Tomorrow

This poem is written by my dear friend, Mary Natwick, from her book Waking a Lover. I enjoyed the poem so very much that I wanted to share it with all of you. I particularly connected with the part about sunsets, since I am so often struck by there unbelievable beauty. They feel like such a gift; just like Mary's poem.

If I Were to Die Tomorrow

I never got to go on an African safari

or see the Northern lights

or visit Schotland and Wales, or take a ferry

up the Sognefjord in Norway to my ancestors' farm

I never got to climb Mount Everest

and that pilgrimage through Spain sounded so tempting!

--and Stonehenge--

--the Amazon River--

but it was never on my list to have so many good friends

to have such a Buddha-teacher son

to have a husband who knows me so intimately

he can even explain me to myself

it was never on my list to love little scrinchy newborn babies

no moments made my list,

like the scarlet tanager singing in the blossoming pear tree

the coyote sitting on a desert road at sunrise

laughing uncontrollably never made the list

and sunsets: tonight while driving into stunning purple and

orange swirls I said "this must be the best one ever"

even though I've seen a thousand such -- can you imagine,

a thousand spectacular sunsets!

How lucky can a person get?

If I were to die tomorrow, I would have only a few

regrets -- one of which might be that my list was

so much shallower than my life

Mary Natwick, Waking a Lover

www.spokenincense.com/