I have. I will not.

I have outlived senators
and sycophants.
Pennymen and paupers alike.

I have outtraveled the
traveling salesmen.
Boeings and briefcases perpetually
aloft through the night.

I have out breathed the great
lungs of the redwood tree.
Stalks and stems no longer vaulted
from mother's bosom.

I have out stepped the rugged
soldiers of our nation.
Who no longer wake to reveille.

I have out blinked the lumens
of the mighty metropolis.
Scrape the heavens they do no more.

I have outgroaned the spans as
they sway to the wind.
No longer connect the valleys and gorge.

But I have not outshone the stars,
burning brilliantly in the ether.

And I will not outlive the heavens,
black opal beautiful, above the sky.