The King's Reflection

There’d better be something, or what’s it all for? I’ve preened my importance, reached my high rank, Aspired to heights, while many men sank. All of it, just to be kicked out the door? “It’s there in plain sight” said my inner voice - The certainty that I will face it one day - But I am distracted by work and by play And besides, it is not like I have any choice. But time, like my stubbornness, forges ahead And, getting the better of even our best, Delivers its message as some sort of test, As childhood delight slowly turns into dread. I know that it’s coming, and maybe it’s soon, But, trudging along as I gorge at the trough, I try not to dwell on or take notice of The proverbial elephant here in the room. ‘Creature of habit’ seems to fit well And goes a long ways toward making some sense Of the concept of karma like some recompense Though I go back for more, as if under a spell. But some of us, kicking and screaming, go out While others seem ready and sure that there’s more That they happily face as a place to explore Having only delight, and never a doubt. ‘As on earth, so in heaven’ I seem to recall, And try to take solace in words such as those, Then fall into trivial rhyming and prose, And see I've learned little, if any at all. The train that I ride will go over the cliff And there's no way to jump before reaching the edge No matter the vow or the promise or pledge Or even a dawning or paradigm shift. Just when I've taken a lifetime to win I see that there's no way to go but to lose And though I insist that it’s not what I choose Have I fostered the fix that I find myself in?