For Keeps

Forever, everlasting, for keeps.
Those words mean nothing
in a long scheme of this world.

It means nothing as in
eventually boulders
decay to sand.

Forever, an endless scheme
which only lasts
until the speaker dies;

for keeps and everlasting
are what a child knows
about a span of hours

or weeks that
will hold true until one day
they fall asleep and forget.

Everyone forgets
eventually, after all. One day
you will wake up

and nothing will still be true.
Then this world
will feel fresh again, don’t you know?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
onward,
T