Come and Go

Yesterday as before
    I walked with others
    to this place of stones,
       leaving loved ones,
       carrying away memories,
And so we come and go.

Today among them I stand
    wondering if they knew
    how finite, how fragile
       was this life called theirs.
        No sign of wealth or race,
And so they come and go.

Tomorrow I join them
     remembered for a moment
     but soon forgotten.
        A body at rest
        a soul stirring for eternity,
And so I come and so I go.

(Psalm 49)