As I Get Older

Getting older don’t you wonder What your life is all about? Wages earned don’t leap to haunt me Like my dreams of fighting trout - Lightning flash and splashing thunder Writhe inside my reverie. Poem’s birth a new obsession Like a weed fighting for life, Rooted in imagination, Married to soul like a wife. A genetic new expression, Your child, not an alien! Moment when you felt Christ call you, Knew His presence was divine, Youthful dream mysterious now, What was certain in decline, Adult wisdom leans toward doubt too, Truth just one more sacred cow. Life that once flowed like a river, Froths now like enamored stream, Still the rock called death eludes you, Though it manifests in dream, Specter that still makes you shiver, Cold moon, crystal ball you view! Love a flower (will it open?), Like a parachute, unknown, Only earth impact is certain, Like a feather, like a stone, Accident waiting to happen, Morning paper’s bulletin. Lessons, fertile fields before us, Student’s lives the ones that shine, Possibilities we shoulder, Morning light, day’s valentine, Nature’s music, angel’s chorus, Bring another kind of tear. Brian Johnston January 5, 2015