Two Beats (poem) ... a Tribute to Mothers of Fallen Soldiers
Do people know when they’re about to die?
Most soldiers who’ve spent anytime on a battlefield would probably answer in the affirmative. Although science has never been able to explain 'what life is,' human beings seem capable of understanding when “it” is almost gone. What is remarkable is what happens in the minds of the dying in the fleeting moments before the inevitable becomes inescapable.
Despite Western cultural elevation of individualism, human beings are incredibly social animals. We don’t want to live alone and, most assuredly, we don’t want to die alone.
Irrespective of religious beliefs (all of which, by definition, require faith – the belief in something you cannot prove), none of us can say with certainty whether death is the end of existence. Psychologically, the closest thing we actually have to the concept of 'life after death' … is being remembered. Being remembered means that the ‘concept of you’ will live on. What you need, therefore, is someone who believes that the world would be a lesser place but for the fact of your existence … and can, therefore, be trusted to keep you in it.
So who can you trust to ensure that ‘you'll live on?’ Most frequently, it is the person that ensured that you’d live in the first place. Your mother.
At some point during pregnancy, a woman experiences the phenomenal insight that “I” is now “we” and that “mine” has become “ours.” What happens to the one, happens to the other. Such profound inter-connectedness leaves deep roots in the brains of both, roots that cannot be erased by time or space. As long one can remember the other, neither can ever be truly alone.
Image Credit: Wellcome Collection
Poetry can make wonderful gifts.
Nice one
@asikarali, thanks for the positive feedback. If you liked that poem, you'd probably like the two in my IntroduceYourself post that I posted yesterday. And, I'll be posting another later this evening.
P.S. I spent several years in Africa and am glad to see so many Africans getting involved on Steemit. I can attest to impact that a bit of financial support from Steemians could have upon the lives of the people of that continent. I looked at your Steemit page and it contains some very interesting content (I'll go back for a more in-depth perusal after I get my second post sent). I've Followed you and hope we'll have the opportunity to converse again in the future.
Wow
@annalorin28, thanks for the Wow. I hope you're doing well. There's another poem coming tonight or tomorrow morning. Stay tuned.
an emotional rendition, certainly a poem delicately crafted to pluck heartstrings, @quillfire.
your use of alliteration to carry the sound through rhythm, especially in your first two stanzas, was quite deftly done, and the word play and philosophic exploration of the threads that connect us to those we love in both life and death certainly take it from there.
the poem made me double back and read the last paragraph of your introduction again - the 'me' becoming 'we' a concept seemingly bridging the cycle between birth, in family, in friends, in love and in death.
you do all of this a quite but resolute justice in 'Two Beats', @quillfire, well crafted.
@carmalain7,
My apologies for the late reply ... I wasn't checking my expired posts.
Anyway, thanks for your insightful and detailed analysis. This poem is one of the special ones as it is auto-biographical. It's been over 25 years, and yet I can recall the incident like it happened yesterday. For me, the introduction is as impactful as the poem itself. Being remembered ... it's our only guaranteed life after death, and I sense that the drive to do so, be remembered, lies deep within us all.