Our Time is Now
by: Jillian Elizabeth Burgin,
Albuquerque, New Mexico

The gravestones stood like silent warriors against the hill… tired and old guardians of the night. Reflecting moonlight and shadows, veiled amongst the trees
as the wind whispered of times that had passed…

I am dead and no one now lives who remembers me, my life. No one cares that I have gone or that I was ever even here on this earth. After all, what have I left behind?

I fought and died in the war… I believed it was the noble and honorable thing to do for my country.

I was wrong.

I was killed, after killing and wounding several others. I bled and died before my time.

Before I had lived, before I saw another sunrise in my twenty-third year.

Before I said goodbye to those I loved and cherished. Now, they too, have all passed from the earth.

It could have been different but my time has gone…

I should have stayed alive to enjoy life, to spend more time with my family, to be there for them when they needed me. I should have stayed alive to raise children and teach them love and peace and true meaning in life. Instead I have passed away into a tragic meaningless memory from which there can be no return and I took many other lives with me.

I should have put the gun down and walked away a true hero.

Now children run over my grave…they don't even remember the war I fought in. I hope they are smarter than me, and the others like me. I hope they grow up in peace. I hope they can love each other. I hope they can restore the planet. I hope they can have a better future. They are the future…

The long night passes in the cemetery…
darkness and shadow are replaced
by the dawn of a new sunrise.
Life begins another day.



The choice of positive transformation
on planet earth is ours.
Our time is now.