nothing to give

the problem is not that

s/he had the world to win

but that s/he had nothing to give,

for after the early years were over

the latter brought nothing but

hardship &

reduction of the self---

that is to say,

the old cliché that one is

“half the man they used to be”

or half the woman,

after all, it is the 21^st century.

 

worry lines &

double time,

sands they pour through the

hour glass---

clogged arteries &

cancer sets in,

lungs filled with decay &

bones breaking down,

when the body shrinks,

when the eyes start clouding

over,

when the time takes its toll,

the rot of true reality

makes its way

deep into the veins of us

all.