Our Setting Sun

Time escapes no one.

It’s eye opening to look at your parents when you begin to grow up.

I mean, when you really grow up. Mentally.

To look down upon your own smiling kids,

Running around their siblings and cousins, full of energy,

As you once did as a child.

And to then look up into the faces of your aging parents,

The harsh wind has blown their hair grey,

The heavy air has made their backs droop,

You look on to them even as that same harsh wind draws deep lines in your face,

And you realize the ultimate truth:

That time is the hurricane in the distance that you can’t outrun,

It is that sun that you can’t stop from setting,

The stars that you can’t stop from fading.

The young and energetic parents that you once looked up to

As they picked you up to see the stars above the mountain tops,

Are slowing with time, and fading with those same stars.

The mantle that once smelled like Old Spice and shone with the jewelry of your mother’s wrists

Awaits in the distance, ready for you to sit upon it in due time.

Your children have filled the shoes you once wore,

Those energetic, hopeful, blissful shoes that once filled your heart with wonder,

Your parents will follow in the footsteps of the ones before them,

Taking Time’s hand and looking back upon their kids as they walk into the sunset.

And you will feel the sting of it all as the harsh wind blows grey into your hair,

And the stars that you now show your children will one day dim for you. 

Author's Note

I'm trying very hard to encourage others to look at the dynamics of time, and how it affects all of us. How we are destined to follow in the footsteps of our parents, and our children in ours, as sure as the sun sets. If you aren't paying attention, you might just miss it.

Reviews

[Rachel]

Reading this gives me a sense of calm that I really enjoyed. Not a line seemed out of place, and I was going to pick one line in particular to mention as a favorite, but I honestly really liked all of them. The way you wrote this as a progression of time was really beautiful and really well put.