Our Expiration Date
Miracle Man
9/9/2024
Time has no favorites, passing the same for each,
and at birth God assigns an expiration date.
This assigned time period man cannot breach,
but the life he lives determines his eternal fate.
Man isn’t informed when his last day will be,
and expiration date changes only by God’s choice.
Whether our lives are lived guardedly or carefree,
The clock keeps ticking unaware of our voice.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
Psalm 90:10
Man's life is 70 years
Beyond is bonus.
Expiration Date
Miracle Man
8-9-2023
When near life’s end if I should look back
at life’s ups and downs and all its stings
I’ll review those times when drifting off track
and lament not enjoying the little things
But only God knows when this will occur,
I must stay ready for the knock at my door.
For at this time my life will appear as a blur,
I don’t want to be chaff that’s left on the floor.
Matthew 3:12
“Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
The smoke ascended
through the wind of fire and rain;
till it disappeared.
Do we all feel the same,
Is life just a waiting game
Why? do some, live so long,
Is it because they are strong,
Or have they more to learn,
And have not yet earned,
The peace that we all desire,
When we expire.
I am fire and rhapsody in my private chambers.
Inside out, I am flourishing, animated, and measured.
My heart pumps owning the same conviction at age 15.
My hormonal sexual splendor surely must be the same
dense river I swam at 20.
In the mirror, I see only my ardor dancing,
my uncontainable flourish advancing.
As usual, I’m a firebird at the supermarket.
Trailblazing each aisle, I come to the dairy section.
The milk I buy is always on the lowest shelf of the frig.
Each gallon I inspect expired 3 days ago.
Swinging the frig door wide, I kneel before the milk.
I inspect gallons until I find one that hasn’t expired.
My rigid wooden kneecaps grind against the floor tile.
I extract the bottle, slowly rising to stand
and my glasses slide off.
I somehow snatch them before they fall on the floor.
I turn to place the bottle in my cart.
“Do you need help?”
She’s a face full of glowing concern.
That’s all I see.
“No, I think I’ve got it.
I’m always dropping my glasses.”
This archangel of milk bottles
vanishes.
My wings of fire are only cinders now.
The reason is plain to see.
From outside in, my expiration date has passed.
EXPIRATION DATES - 20190122
We’ve all got inspiration dates,
But we can only guess at when.
From first breath ‘til the end,
Our lives were pre-measured by the Fates.
That doesn’t mean we can’t shorten our time
By taking risks with unhealthy lifestyles.
The Grim Reaper sadly grants no extra miles;
Life’s not a game played with overtime.
So what shall we do with the time we’ve got,
With whatever granted amount?
What shall we do to make it count?
Will our light be a nano- or a gigawatt?
All those loved-ones who share our houses-
We don’t know how long they’ve got to live!
What would you do if you did outlive
All you’re friends, children, and spouses?
Would you dwell on everything left unsaid,
Endlessly numbering your every regret.
“I wish I would have” your stone’s epithet,
Your expiration date expired, finally dead.
There’s no Marley’s ghost to give you warning.
To avoid so many pointless sorrows,
Treat all you love like they had no tomorrows.
Change your ways; start yesterday morning!
Wrong Expiration Date
Written: by “The Protected One”
7/10/2018
I’ve modified or eliminated habits of late,
Sudden Cardiac Arrest was not endearing.
As I stood at the threshold of Heaven’s gate,
I heard a choir singing and angels cheering.
Then God breathed life into a broken man,
And now I’m surviving on borrowed time.
Seventy nine years has been my life’s span,
At expiration date death’s bell will chime.
Give me guarantee in life
As life is not one
Tell me there is another way
How long have we searched
Endlessly hoping it exists
Reality in life is not true to us
More often we should wait
Everyday we wait for life to be better
Another day builds just a new level of death
Nobody ever tells us we have been garenteed at birth
Everyone ignores the fact it is death we all are promised
When we realize the coldness of our hearts
Life seems so much more emptier then others
If we were born to never speak nor hear
Family and friends would live longer and prolong this garenteed
Even if just by a few hours it may be quieter yet would certainly slow down the life warranty
Her thoughts bled from her fingertips
In the form of ink, they created art
She churned her words in sync to the beat
Taking music from the pain in her heart
Woven words roll down her face
Saturating the canvas beneath
Adorning her sorrows with delicate lace
Lovely strokes from a brush of grief
She was filling the shoes of her destiny
By opening her heart and letting loose the parts
For all the world to see
She knew not why her eyes did cry
She couldn't define her purpose
But she didn't want her tears to dry
It would defeat their very service
So all of her fears and all of her tears
Filled the cracks that turned to streams
Ending the drought for her many peers
Giving peace and reason to dream
Then one day she realized
That she, too, had life inside
She had not been forgotten
Or left behind
She was very much alive
It wasn't too late to start today
Every journey, at some point, began
She didn't sport an expiration date
Branded upon her hand
Just like that, at the drop of a hat
Her pity party quickly ceased
Ditching the bench, she went to batt
Her self worth, soon increased
What crap.
I write of this and that
the dog, the birds, the cat.
In these random fluctuatinos
can't imagine where to be punctuating.
Use the comma, colon, apostrophe for contractions
as i slip and slide to my own in-actions.
A cap, a misspelled word
what I was saying is so absurd,
A cadence, a rhyme,
slip of the tongue un-twined;
some sarcasm to be less benign.
A dot, a dash,
some humor splashed.
What the hey
let me write a least a poem a day
Good or bad,
a message happy and sad;
to tweet a word, a rhyme or two -
Ironic Zink, this one's for you!
Expiration Date
Written: by Tom Wright
4/4/2016
Jimmy’s expiration date was 4-4-2016 at 2:15 PM
At inception God assigns each, an expiration date,
Some dates seem premature, some linger until late.
Man does all he can to prolong this time on earth,
But we all start expiring at our moment of birth.
Our lives are incremental slightly like a yearly season,
And things found strange to us, God has His reason.
Many float through life thinking of earth bound days,
Enjoying the good times, soaking up the warm rays.
While never seeming conscious of a date stamped by name,
Some are content with simple living, others, fortune or fame;
But the speed bumps of life are placed before us to capture,
Our thoughts from the present, to a soon, coming rapture.
Many give God little thought until dumbstruck from fear,
Sensing that clock is ticking and expiration date draws near.
So live life in the moment with whatever cross you bear,
Praying for God’s easy path ascending from here, to there;
I believe many close calls in life may have been times
When God was resetting our expiration date?
Tom
Expiration Fate
Exhale
breath in retreat…
life… denying stasis
of respirations yin and yang -
fulfilled..
John G. Lawless
6/4/2015
submitted to – Cinquain – Poetry Contest
sponsor – Sara Kendrick
I can feel it
The impending end
I saw it coming
since this thing began
I had no expectations,
except for one
Sooner or later they all leave
And again I'm alone
Who can truly love -
This shattered fragment of a soul?
I pretend not to care
That my heart is no longer there
If I deny it
Maybe I can fool myself
The tears quietly run down my jaw
I quickly swat them away
I don't let anyone know of the pain I am in
It comes as no surprise
But the truth, it still stings
I know in life no one ever stays
A Date With Expiration
Science says regarding life
We all must die sometime
All living things will cease to be
But History survives everything
Good for it. I hope it has many days
Like fruits and vegetables
And like milk stamped “Best used by”
It is news to me that humans now come
With expiration dates
Marked "Expired"
I wonder if my taxes were filed and paid
Before I pass away or at least retire
I hope I remembered to get laid
Or paid for all my efforts
Before my time runs out
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