Looking back at your life on your deathbed, what will you tell yourself? Did you live it to the fullest? Will you have no regrets?

I know bringing this topic makes people uncomfortable. Even I feel a weight on my chest as I write this. But it is a powerful question to ask, one that leaves everyone deeply reflect for a long time. Do you know why? Because this question is a not a question about death, it’s actually a question about life. It’s not about the sadness of the moment you’ll go, it’s about the joy of the moments you lived. So go on and make these moments count.

I hope this poem will speak to you like it did to me. 

______

Mind and Heart
by Charles Bukowski

unaccountably we are alone
forever alone
and it was meant to be
that way,
it was never meant
to be any other way–
and when the death struggle
begins
the last thing I wish to see
is
a ring of human faces
hovering over me–
better just my old friends,
the walls of my self,
let only them be there.

I have been alone but seldom
lonely.
I have satisfied my thirst
at the well
of my self
and that wine was good,
the best I ever had,
and tonight
sitting
staring into the dark
I now finally understand
the dark and the
light and everything
in between.

peace of mind and heart
arrives
when we accept what
is:
having been
born into this
strange life
we must accept
the wasted gamble of our
days
and take some satisfaction in
the pleasure of
leaving it all
behind.

cry not for me.

grieve not for me.

read
what I’ve written
then
forget it
all.

drink from the well
of your self
and begin
again.