The Waning Years

Uncle Ben

The waning years left me lost tears

for brethren I have loved so long

Remember days of childish ways

 taste of life was sweet as a song

 

Winds that blew, as they always do

from youth I saw in my mirror

A pale gray face, lie in its place

 old folly of years grows clearer

 

I laughed and played, as youth had stayed

duty could wait, while time was free

Time was my friend, though in the end

pain overcame what life left me

 

Author's Note

So often is this truth that we all dread the knock of the door.
For life's time waits on none of us
it masters fate with earnest callous
Caring for none in favored mercy
helping not whom it shows malice
Let us not seek reward in the end for deeds we should do by conscience. Let us instead stive to be fondly remembered by those we love.

Reviews

[bluessadmood]

This is so lovely my friend,lovely and sad..but i think it should not be..or is it
years left so many tears,those days of childish ways
life taste both sweet and bitter,the winds always blew
and i always looked the mirror,see two faces young and aged
I laughed for youth made me look like a fool
thought life could wait and time was mine
a friend who always tricked me to the end
pain always was my friend..pain always stayed with fools
You dont know how I enjoyed this..this was so great writing
but i dont think its that bad..fools also enjoy their life..pity
lovely write..

[Bette]

well done and i love the picture.

[MusicJunkie66]

This speaks so much truth. Excellent!!!

[M.Kilani]

Quite impressive great piece though short one , reminds me of my own writings , you might want to check them out , if so start with this link http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/Kilani/524980/ and give me a piece of your mind

[Charles]

This reminds me of some of the poets I like from the WW-eras. I like this one all around, but think it wouldn't take much to improve meter (like drop the 'a' in line 4. Then, a quick look at grammar in the 2nd stanza: 1) a pale gray face lie in its place and 2) folly of years are clearer. Lie and are may be what you want (depending on the subjects of the sentences), but they could be read (as I first did) as inappropriate correspondence: face (singular) - lies, and folly (singular) - is. I've looked several times at the use of past tense here; that's appropriate I guess for someone who's gone (and is speaking acorss the threshold of death) or on the very edge and who's speaking of those long ago years, but it could also be the present tense if the persona of the poem is a person in his/her waning years. Nice writing, Tate.

[Lilly]

The picture accompanying this piece is perfect for this - That man knows life I think. Beautiful, reflective poem which manages to touch on both celebratory and sad themes of life.

[Star Wolf]

To live is to experience pain. The longer we live the more pain we experience. We just hope we have plenty of positive experiences to go along with it.

[MagiCrystal]

Thank you for allowing me to review your work..Age and time..!
Memories and life, heavy words but one meaning.. and I am all about life ..
We all died.. at the end our seed is the one who leaves those green roots.. called life
Much pain in all the verses...but sad to see.. that we all died.. life
hands down... Bravo.. ! Maestro !

[Havatara]

I can't really think of anything to say except that it was wonderfully written and I could see the emotions that you put behind your words. Fantastic write.

[Dressed in Poetry]

This isn't so much about this poem in particular as it is about all of your poems together, but I really like how you change fonts. It makes each poem seem written by a different hand, in a different time and place - which totally works, since each poem is something different.

[Coyote Poetry]

The poem is outstanding. Th face of the man in the poem made your words come alive. A face is a road map of a life. Your ending is true. We will all fall one day to the pain of life. A excellent poem.
Coyote