If I Die

I'm still not convinced.
My whole life folks have made me
feel as though none of us has
any choice in the matter.
There's a brick wall we'll hit
one day, no matter what path
we take to get there. Truth is,
we see people hitting that
wall every day, one way or
another. I just mean to point
out that everything else about
our lives on earth are changing
more and more dramatically
every day. There's even talk of
human futures lying on a
different planet. I'm just not
clear on the implications.
Breathing radically new air,
living on a planet with no
oceans, with more than one
sun, with zero gravity, isn't
there a chance that the
fundamental natures of the
human condition might
be transformed to the point
where none of us has to die
anymore? I know, I know,
who's to say that wouldn't
totally suck. Love affairs would
probably be a thing of the past--
how could you love one person
forever? And poetry would
have no tinder to spark it.
We'd end up with even more
war-like mentalities, attempting
desperately to rekindle the heart-
felt pains of death and mayhem.
I'm just saying for my generation,
there's a vague shot at immortality.
The hardest part of the next
50 years will be, I guess,
that very same obstacle we've
always faced: learning to love
each other forever and ever.

(2006)