At the old man's funeral, people gathered far and wide
Everyone who knew him, far more than would have come were he alive
He'd worked every day, to try to make end's meat
And in the hearts of many friend, he had earned a seat
So now they travel past and all pay their respects
To a man to whom they are all in great debt
They weep and moan, and cry and lament
That now his life, all gone and spent
But they greatest tragedy they all deny
For the loss was not the body dead at life's end
But what was lost along the way, allowed to die
The dreams not pursued for the sake of love's safety
The hope deffered for the lives he helped bring
The joys not found in day after day of long hardship
The future never realized, drained slowly hour by hour
What died so late, in life's waining dusk
Was nothing more, than a cold and empty husk
The man long passed, never mourned when he did
Because no one ever saw the sacrifices he hid
And if you knew him, like that old man knew me
You'd understand that death just set him free

A short piece I wrote, inspired by a quote by Norman Cousins