Vanity and Dust

There is really only one ultimate question for human beings: are we just clever animals, subject to death and oblivion -- or is there a part of us that transcends this world and exists forever?

Vanity and dust,
dust and vanity:
is that all we are,
clashing egos
scheming, soulless,
taking and getting
only to lose all to
that cheater Death?

When all you love
will one day turn
to dust, and none
can beat emptiness,
then you must pick:
that all is but chance,
or all is planned, and
luck is the illusion...
sentience a cruel joke
or a divine-like gift--so
are you are a fluke,
or one tugged by God?


(c. 2016)

Reviews

[emptyinkwell]

I like what you are trying to portray here. I've actually written a similar poem in the past, but almost going at it in the opposite angle. Life is one big game. I don't believe that death cheats, but death will always win. The real cheaters are those of us who think we can cheat death.

Overall, beautiful poem! I love the imagery and the syntax!

[Nolo Segundo]

There's really 2 ways of looking at death: as a wall or a door. I thought it a door until I almost drowned at 24 and found out it's just a door-- the tricky (and maybe scary part) is where it leads to.

[emptyinkwell]

I see. That's a good analogy actually. I see death like a locked door. Only Hades has the keys. No one knows when their door will open.