Reflection

It was unexpected, along the way
It was to be an uneventful, forgettable day
Poignancy was not the essence
of a day, there was just presence.

A dying woman rubbed my cheek
while words, she was trying to speak
A light smile played on her lips
While I wet it with some ice chips.

This was a moment etched in mind,
To this, I keep going back to, I find.
The transience of it all, the end
The approach, one has to upend. 

The circle of life, did I pay forward?
The soul swims to the shore ward.
While discarded body is consigned,
The loved ones, to a loss, are resigned.

It was but a tiny speck of time
One that we cannot begrime
The details always fail me,
Not forcing it upon, I let it be

This fleeting life - a lesson
'Mono no aware' egression.


Prompt #1 is this:  Write a poem that reflects a moment from your life in which you encountered mono no aware.  You can consider why it is painful, what makes it fleeting, how it brings you out of yourself into the larger universe, or any other aspects of the phrase with which you are familiar.