Giving Birth to Eternity

I wonder
when the word "eternity"
first passed human lips,
did it spill out into the air
did it burst forth
or slip out like a whispered secret

was it an utterance 
burgeoning with hope
or a painful prayer
spoken by someone 
whose back was breaking
under the weight of their life
the spine splintered and lacerated
under the cross of their existence

or

if it was the yearning of a lover
freshly sweating from the tangle of passion
to never let it end
pained by the thought of
endings