A Good Life

To live a good life is to forget death,

the end that comes to all that lives and all that is dear;

that all will be lost that can be lost

and that nothing once lost can ever be regained.

That tears are the truth and smiles are the deceit.

Life is a story of loss and in the end always a tragedy,

but to be happy we have to be innocent enough,
deluded enough to mistake it for a romance

or a heroic epic where the main character is left standing,

waving to the audience when the curtain falls.