Michael Shepherd
How strange it seems,
that old age follows youth!
when all the world seemed one's own, at that
time,
with time enough to seek a higher truth -
who'd guess the stairs so
steep, so slow to climb?
Worn carpets and worn kneecaps are old age
-
and yet, a blessed time for life of mind:
for those who wish, a different
sense of wage;
free-chosen universal work to find;
and yet more
blessed still: that earth-bound soul
to meet and greet, and work its soil and
flowers;
to live with gratitude; and scan the whole
to find that One
which proves the whole world ours.
As iron age yields to the gold of
truth,
so our old age may find within, true youth.
