How Many Breaths? Poem by Royston Allen

Life is so fragile and I live so close to death
for eternity begins with my final breath.
This mortal body is composed of flesh and bone
but my soul lives has a life if its' own

These short years of mine are a wisp of smoke
and will come to an end at midnight's final stroke.
How many breaths will I breathe within my lifetime?
How many heartbeats are there in this heart of mine?

A finite number for I am of mortal clay
and the transient sands of time just slip away
So to myself I say, 'breathe lungs breathe, beat heart beat'
until all these days of mine are spent and complete.

Then my soul, which is that undying part of me
will be takento the realms of eternity.
Ascending into heaven the source of its birth.
No more confined to the limitations of earth.