Do You Remember?

Do You Remember?

By Brian Looney

Do you remember

the first strawberry you ate?

Its refreshing, vivacious essence.

That, my dear, is the taste of life.

You were just a child discovering the world.

It was a stranger.

Now the world and you are one.

There was no wedding ceremony,

But you are joined for life.

There are those who are your enemies,

Those who council divorce.

Those who teach you shame.

They have sober, bitter expressions.

Their conservative joys are mild and unfulfilling.

Their first strawberry was tart and ugly.

They squirmed in sour, repulsing renunciation.

And they are frozen by distaste.

They don't bother over the sweetness in their mouths.

They would exchange it all for a lump of sawdust.

But you are different.

Your relationship is rewarding.

Your rewards are instantaneous.

You bask in realism's double-edged illusion.

May the last strawberry you enjoy be as wonderful as the first.

Remember it on your deathbed,

Banish fear,

And enter oblivion with beauty on your tongue.