Take hold of the dawn, the sun sets soon enough,
When we will bid farewell to thoughts and dreams.
Maybe this is only a childish remark, off the cuff
That life is an enigma and is never what it seems...
Sunshine stays around us for only a few hours
Before shadows creep toward your every thought.
All earthly principalities and all kingly powers
Rule their turns for awhile, although all for naught....
A fistful of flowers clutched firmly to one's chest
Is more precious than gold and much more desired
By me in my dotage, seeking beauty where it's best,
Seeking where my energy is stoked and fired....
Did I attain all to which I had so foolishly aspired?
Not even close...but still, I thought I would ask.
I began with full strength and a brain hard-wired.
Now whence the energy that set me to each task...
As the sunlight slants ever southward, I grow cold.
As tendrils of shadows creep toward me, I grow weak.
Somewhere along the flowered pathway I grew old.
My outlook for the coming days grows ever bleak....
