And Nothing Will Ever Be That Hasn't Been

This is all the life there is.

There are no comparisons.

There never was another,

Never will be another.

The sunlight on lined paper

Illuminates the spider

Of a handwritten idea.

There's only this life or else

Nothing, and all that I know

Of nothing is forgetting,

Surgery, and nightly sleep.

Life's the sum total of life

And there's no trading it in.

I am just what I have been.