When one of us dies

it is a startling fact

that someone who was here

is here no longer

their death awakens you to

the shortness of life

and how brief and limited it is

and when someone

the same age as you dies unexpectedly

you realize how close you yourself are

as time slips away

you grow ever closer to your fate

how temporary is your place on earth

we think we are able

that we will always be

but when someone your own age passes

it brings the truth home

we know death makes short work of life

despite all that went before

family & friends

career and accomplishments

are all merely trifles

compared to the power of death

once it comes

we gather to reflect on the person deceased

out of respect we contemplate the life that was

but we grow introspective and think inwardly

about ourselves

we cannot help it

that is why people cry at funerals

we mourn not only for those passed

but for those left behind

we mourn the victory of death

but also what is coming next

we mourn for ourselves.