What lasts?

Another poem. They come few and far between - usually when I am on a retreat somewhere! This one was written during a Mindfulness retreat I attended at the beautiful Sharpham Trust. 

What lasts?
Is it the touch of your breath on my skin,
or the glow of summer sun?
Is it the sound of the bird on the tree
or sampling cakes and buns?

Is it the joy in my heart when I meet another
soul on a journey similar to mine?
Or the love I receive from our Mother
and the protection of the Father divine

I know it not youth or beauty
or in this moment, already passed.
One thing I am almost quite certain,
there is not very much that will last.

Perhaps our species will vanish,
perhaps even the earth will disappear.
Will there still be this universe,
If there is no one left to peer?

Into the skies above us
to dig into the soil below,
If we should lose all these wonders
how would we ever know?

So, to the question, what lasts,
I grow silent and look at the stars.
Let silence swallow me whole
and try to see see past this facade

Look beyond the excitement and chaos
and mind-boggling, consuming 'stuff'
And try to remember, to feel, to believe
That to be is this moment is enough