Dying as one

"Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one." – Martin Heidegger

We become more like ourselves, he said,
as we grow older –
to remind me that this person was not
the one I remembered,
a face among the hazy multitude
in my mind’s eye.
There was no time to pass on any more,
just this revelation,
certainly not love, at least the love
I had anticipated,
just a moment in a field, advice
to leave those selves behind
that have not served me well, or have betrayed me,
or not been kind,
and a glimpse of who remained of him
before he died.
No need for extrapolation – I’d look up
Heidegger one day,
take on the same philosophy,
one daughter at a time.