If death is the end
and life’s a sad joke,
where nothing’s waiting round the bend
and everything goes up in smoke,
no free will and no meaning, friend,
no choice but ‘roll, and go for broke,’
it doesn’t matter how we spend
our days, there’s nothing to transcend.

But if death is a door,
and life is a gift;
the music has an underscore
of joy that ANYTHING exists.
Between the now and evermore
we’re not alone, we’re not adrift.
So sing out like a troubadour,
‘With all that is, there’s surely more.’

To choose between these voices
proves you have the gift of choices.
In turning in, or turning out,
in choosing faith, or choosing doubt.
We all are blessed and all are free
to ‘find ourselves’ in unity,
where ‘all for one and one for all,’
a chorus of both great and small,
sing ‘there is no final curtain call.’

Death is a door,
and life is a gift;
our living has an underscore
of joy that ANYTHING exists.
Between the now and evermore
we’re not alone, we’re not adrift.
So sing out like a troubadour,
‘With all that is, there’s surely more.’

#23
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Copyright 2025 M. Ryan Taylor

Note: In memory of David Sargent, a man whose belief in me shifted the course of my life; I’m pretty sure he was the moving force that got me accepted into the masters program in composition at BYU. He was a kind mentor to me over the course of my time there and was always ready with a warm greeting, a pun, a joke, a thoughtful anecdote, or a bit of life story. He felt deeply, but maintained a smile. I’m grateful to have known him and look forward to hearing his new music when I pass through the door to where he is now.

Photo: Alexander Grey via Unsplash

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