Life Sentences

Life is the longest sentence possible.
We’ve not words enough to circumscribe
all it aims to squelch—so harsh
as to end meaningful existence.

But there: to live or not to live—
that was Hamlet’s interrogation,
whether to suffer slings and arrows
or grab and fling the missiles back.

Don’t be reft of life, liberty,
or pursuit of that scrappiness;
remember that “live” can be a verb—
intransitive, without any object.

Yet in the imperative mood
(inflection, or conjugation)
it cannot be indicative. Live!
is the shortest sentence possible.

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