The Things that Truly Matter by David J. O’Brien

And
When it clutches my throat closed, what
Will I do, then?

Scramble to scribble down
The million words spinning in my mind;
A sprint to spill out some of a never-ending
List of works in progress before my last
Gasp a long way short of a finish line?

Or, instead of constructing imaginary
Monuments of the mind,
Should I spend my time in tickles,
Hugs? Taking every opportunity to
Transmit into my kids the love
Of them, of life, of little things to take note
Of in our ephemeral existence, all
Too easily lost, those that truly matter.