Poetry

The years have caught me in a crosshair of deceit,

For which there can be no sanctuary structure

In which to ensconce myself in its protective cocoon.

Like the warmth of summer, youth seems everlasting,

Playful, buoyant, full of eternal promise. But that

Disarming illusion dissipates with alarming celerity.

Disguised by the events of a lifetime; education, marriage, children,

Immersed in ourselves, years pass with little thought to their demise. 

Our temporal deconstruction of being is sneaky, perverse, furtive.

Rime savaging summer’s greenery while beautifully gleaming

upon plump pumpkins lounging unconcerned in autumnal fields

encapsulates the insidious effects of age on the unsuspecting.

Leaves turn yellow and red in a playful mockery of what’s coming,

Brown, darkness and the deep, long cold of winter is the reality,

All while I long for the sweet smell of the hyacinth of Springtime.

The alternative much more unpleasant and unacceptable.

To be yanked from the essay of life before the first page

Has been written and the sweet ink of life abloom.

Now as the sun sets low upon my final chapters, a salvation remains.

As the body caves in upon itself from the destructive hammer of time,

My youthful heart still sings the eternal Springtime song of Love.

My country tis of thee…..

I rode my bike

Festooned in red, white and blue ribbons.

A child’s pride smoldering as I pedaled

In patriotic parades

Past flag waving crowds.

Sweet land of liberty…..

I pledged allegiance

With all my murmuring classmates.

Ramrod straight, hand across my chest

Every single day

Of my childhood schooling.

Of thee I sing…..

I eagerly learned 

Of Founding Fathers and democracy,

Acing every civics test they devised

Learning that America

Is the greatest country on Earth.

Land where my fathers died…..

I listened closely

To family stories of war and privations.

Americans pulling together to

Help each other, 

America, the global superstar.

Land of the pilgrims' pride….

I yearn in old age,

For youth’s naivete to shield me, 

For lies, corruption and inhumanity

Now displace those

Virtues learned many years ago.

From every mountainside…..

I cling to a hope

That compassion prevails,

Respect again is given neighbors,

Fairness abounds,

A democracy for us all.

Let Freedom ring.