What paradox! What irony!
That piece at which you toiled away
For most of your career,
Postponing, revising,
Meticulously assessing
In light of what you planned—
That prelude to your masterpiece
Turned out to be the very thing
For which you were preparing!
And so it is that every life
Is prelude to itself:
Every death the publication
Of ones magnum opus.
This is the human condition.
Lee Evans lives in Bath, Maine and works for the local YMCA.