Parking Spot

Continued from Part 2: Shifting Gears

There’s a really curious, almost fantastical quality to how we perceive death

On the one hand, there’s a fear that haunts us all at almost every step

Of our lives — people we love, dreams we’ve cherished, our own physical form

But then the finite nature of this world can be exhilarating in its own

Way, because we don’t know what happens next

We believe what we’ve read in the texts

Yet there’s still this mystery… a darkness that we want to both avoid and enter at the same time

And sometimes, at least, I project some of life’s mortal mysteries within that vortex on the other side

In the privilege of youth, we, well at least I, place things behind the doorstep of death in hopes that our, or my, demise would avoid the thought of what’s to come

What’s going to happen to the people I love? 

Will my sister be happy where she ends up? 

Will my friends forget about me and move on with their lives? How lonely does “alone” really feel? Is my 

Decision really helping or hurting someone at the end of the day?

I aspire to never have to find the answer, so I put off thinking about it, as I’ve been saying

Falsely assuming that I’ll pass through the gate and hit the end before I have to answer any of the questions

But now I stand at the face of a gate, only to see many gates ahead, and I guess that’s the function

Of life

Cruising on, gate after gate, picking up strife

And grief and joy along the way

Hoping you find things to cherish on your mobile stay

So that one day

When it ends you can be content to say

Bismillah¹

after Khuda Hafiz²

Definitions:
1 – (prayer before you start something, in the name of Allah)
2 –(salutation you say when you leave somewhere, may the lord protect you)