Destiny

Destiny

I have never believed in destiny
The idea of fate or purpose
Beyond the mortal veil seems
A weak answer to the way
The world is – or is not.
The world is not just
The world is not kind
Nor is it fated to a particular end.

Some live their lives
As if driven by the hands of fate,
Or as if they have resigned themselves
To some inescapable ending.

The only inescapable fact of life
Is the debt that all men pay,
Whether it comes in life’s dawn
Or after a long and complex journey.

I won’t pretend to know the answer
As to purpose, or to final judgment.
What I have learned is that
We first must answer to ourselves,
Then to those we love –
As the only hold between people
That can matter.

23 lines