ost # 537 (poesie) THE ETERNAL TRANSACTION*

Of all the deals we strike in life
Of all the goods we buy and sell
Of all our love of land and flag
Of all our ardent love of peace
Of all our firm friendships made
Of all our love of life itself

The dearest cost is a loss of love
The painful sight of life’s cruel end
The egregious cost of a loved one’s death
A hurtful space that’s never filled

Green emeralds’ cost is very great
The price of peace, ‘oft hard to pay
The cost of truth so dearly bought
The cost of death is enduring pain

There seems no cost in avoiding loss
With no love whose death to mourn
There’s far less risk in solitude, and
Yet in such choice, in fear of pain
The dearest cost in life, we feel,
Is emptiness, in lieu of love.

-p.

attributed to Leonard N. Shapiro N.Y. 9/2/2020