I walked to the next room

And stood feeling gloom

For what I sought

I forgot

Empty and lost

Cruelly verified by mirror images at me tossed

I defiantly stood refusing to concede

Until finally remembering indeed

Filled with fear of an Alzheimer’s fate

I trembled at that thought that I hate

“It’s normal”, they all say

“It happened to me just today”

Comforted for a moment

With empathetic sentiment

Until out of a store later I plot

To find my car in the parking lot

My spirit is housed in an older body

Shallow lookers only see

A once clear sky

That is cloudy

Knowledge amassed through experience and time

Is wasted with vision

Filtered by weeds

Seeded in the mind

Those who only can see the surface

Cannot understand or know

The value of lessons learned

From those born on the eve of snow

Perhaps this is the reason

Progress can be slow

Many times we have heard

“History repeats itself you know”

My heart grows sad

Burdened with the wisdom earned

That falls to vapor around the feet

Instead of benefiting those that yearned

Clear away the clouds and eliminate the weeds

Take away those seeds that shroud the mind

Learn instead from the withered spirits

Great lessons harvested from precious time

In the name of power

Compromises are made

Twisted truths come down in a shower

As words are shaped to reflect a slightly different shade

What is this power driven monster?

Hidden beneath the surface so smug

That constantly mistruths bolster

Could it be the simple need of an admiring hug?

Our trusted leaders

Great responsibilities hold

Certainly they should be truth creators

For such character one must be very bold

True and lasting power is among the fruit that is given

It blooms in life as a most beautiful flower

Sweetbread created with a truth leaven

For all of humanity to devour

My eyes seeped through the willow tree

Walked along the grass and sand

And immersed in the cool lake water

My ears listened to the still quiet air,

The occasional passing hum of a tiny airborne insect,

And my own heartbeat, alternating with occasional intestinal rumble

My thoughts flew across the sky to the water’s other edge

Exploring the mountainside where I peeked into the mouth of a cave

To see a mysterious creature napping quietly in the dark coolness

From the porch chair I had not moved

Except my eyes to blink away the warm dry air

And my hand to swat away a fly

A rare reprieve I briefly found

Contrasting completely to the fast pace of modern noise

That most often engulfs and exhausts me