IF TOMORROW LASTED FOREVER

BY JAI

Would you feel alive —
are you in the place that you prefer to be —
in heart, in mind —
the body and the spirit —
when the day comes —
the one that does not stop —
will you have done —
all that you wanted —
will you have received —
all that was made for you to discover —
how might that day find you —
that day that lasts forever —
eternal dawning of the current state —
would you be in hell or heaven —
pitfall or paradise is —
a modicum of choices made —
and perceptions inlayed —
golden bricks and roads made straight —
pristine vision a thousand miles wide —
or muddy water wallows —
with binding winding frails —
through darkest oblivion —
on that day and never ending season —
would you be dead inside —
a cage of hopes and dreams long failed —
would sensation of that day become a horror —
unsustainable somehow endured and suffocating —
would you burn with indignation —
and roil in wasted potential —
a rage that would never cease —
a craving that you could not release —
the proverbial dragon would not be chased —
would succor be denied you —
now here and forever —
if today you were found in this way —
could there be more to you now —
that you’d wish were conveyed —
on that day that never ends —
would your gratitude outweigh your shame —
in the time that has past —
have you passed up on time —
opportunity not withstanding —
can this moment suffice —
is there enough in this life —
to hold you forever in hindsight —
and if its 20/20 perfect —
vision with truth no longer concealed —
have you given grace where none was revealed —
on that final day —
the one that lasts 10 million years —
in lights’ speed at night —
could there remain courage —
would there be found hope and respite —
or might there only manifest fears’ sting —
what would the way —
forever forward look exactly like —
if you were somehow forgiven —
for all that you think you did —
and that which you did not —
could there be a meaning in the madness —
of loathing lasting eternally —
the fragrant odor of abandonment —
and the mercy of strength through self-reliance —
who then is the arbiter of your constitution —
in the day that tomorrow lasts forever —
would you find a number of miles —
proportionate to the number of trials —
it takes to find the answer —
to all the questions ending in peace. | JM

JAI WRITES FROM OREGON STATE PENITENTIARY. HE IS A CONSTANT GARDENER.