Wholeness, However Fleeting

All the passions and desires we seek come only to these cruel ends;
The final pounding of a struggling heart and frantic writhing  
against the darkness to find one more moment of life.
I know my ending will come soon, but you are new to the Earth.  
Will you come walk with me?
 
You feel thirst, a child of the soil, lost in deserts of concrete towers.  
For this night, walk with me among the trees and feel the cool silence of autumn
as my life steps closer to its ending.  
We are separated by years but not by our appetite for life.  
 
You look long at the sky when you feel the magic of bare feet on grass.  
You laugh at my stories of past lovers.  
You blush when telling me of your first love.  
You cry at the death of my child and ask why.  
You smile at the look in my eyes as they drop to your breasts.  
You kiss me with smooth lips and your hand touches my pounding chest.  
 
The tears in your eyes say, “Time is short.” Your voice says, “You know, any feelings of love must be followed, no matter how unlikely.”  
 
My startled eyes say, “Are you sure?”  
 
Next to a towering tree, you kneel in silence. Your tear-stained lips touch my shining fountain. Even from our shared darkness come moments of ecstatic joy and new life. You breathe in and gaze into my eyes as my salty sacraments sprinkle over you, each drop filled with blessings and desire for life.
 
I look down on your glossy skin, sparkling in the setting sun. I place a kiss on your cheek and whisper, ‘Thank you.”  
 
I would think of her glistening face often in my last days, knowing that the union of our flesh brought wholeness, however fleeting.