What on earth is life about,
And why are we all here?
Existence with, and not without,
To in its short cine film appear.

What decided the line and station,
We join this time-tugged train?
From nowhere, brief separation,
Until returned there once again.

With many we share a carriage,
Watch each board and disembark.
Enjoined in mainline marriage,
Travelling through the outside dark.

Along with fated family, friends,
With whom destined all to share.
‘Till one by one the journey ends,
For those we whilst here love and care.

All together then, here we are,
Deposited who knows where.
No sense of knowing, near or far,
As into deep, dark space we stare.

The trip is rapturous, difficult, sad,
Place and purpose can't explain.
Then too soon, of all we were and had,
But nothing will remain.

And so we have to make the most,
Of where we find ourselves.
And all provided by our host,
Our stock on lifetime shelves.

For some there is a hopeful sense,
Of permanence in our reach.
Against mortality, a vain defense,
A source of help we can beseech.

But each will find our own approach,
Look back on what it meant.
To hope we leave without reproach,
And in its memory made a dent.

So make your short time here worthwhile,
Despite its scrabble and strife.
For it has the power to us beguile,
With sheer happiness, joy of life.

It's perhaps about just trying to be,
Contented, happy as our goal.
On this foster home for you and me,
Its sanguine sojourn for the soul.