Hello, Goodbye*

hello, goodbye
welcoming, departing words
the alpha, the omega
the beginning and the end
how glad, how sad
to come and go
leaving something for others to know.

hello, goodbye
but, why?
there's got to be
a reason why
we live, we die
only to be born again
to be forgotten in the end...

hello, goodbye
but, why?

copyright 2011 by chris alibin quilpa

*Appeared in Skipping Stones 2005 (an anthology of Hampton Roads, Virginia poets, artists, & photographers), published/produced by Chesapeake Bay Poets.