As Go the Hours, the Days, the Years

1. I remember 20: Aflame with ideas and visions, A mind unfettered by necessity's constraints, Spirit open to everything - Tomorrow held no fears, Yesterday no regrets; There was only day following day, Each new with something to give, Each corner I turned Led down a new road Where joy was ever in the going, The horizon impossibly far and bright. Do you still see that youth somewhere inside When I gaze on you, Love, As I still see that girl with the laughing eyes Who ran down those roads with me? That was our dreaming-time, Our cloudcastle years When we could scarcely bear The brightness of our own being. The wonder of the world embraces the young; They return the embrace, But like the children they so recently were, Are distracted, and break away Enticed by the next marvel Peaking 'round the corner. A part of us yet runs there, Love; Running and running Through the endless light. 2. I remember 30: Young parenthood, responsibilities. We showed them all the light we could, Let them run into it and find their ways. Small voices grew to sound like our own; Busy days and nights flew past Like leaves blown out of the grasp of their trees, Tumbling, mixing, moving on Until at last the bigger voices went off on their own, Running down new roads Chasing their own marvels. Now and again they return, We share our found treasures Fondly laugh together At Youth's follies and discoveries Sigh within At the beautiful light. This was the time when we were Fortune's Fools, Proud and happy to be. 3. I remember 40: The time of Action The time of Challenge. This is the time we found our strength, Though sometimes purchased with pain. This was the time of lessons, Some hard. This was also the age of flowing friendships - Some growing, some degenerating, most holding stable, Especially, of course, the good old ones, The ones that stretched to childhood, going on and stretching still. Yet finally, also our era of finding out: Our spouses really are our best friends How relative time truly is Why learning to Just Accept pays off Where the foci of our lives need to be When to roll over and when to dig in Who's a Friend and who's a Face. The forties were something special. 4. So now we stand in the middle 50s. Less ahead than behind, for sure. Youth is still not quite out of reach, But age is on the horizon and beckoning. Has Age brought wisdom along? I think yes, but she's holding back, Not saying much just yet. Now the light has begun to slant; There are decades to go, But the afternoon has come on, The hot day is cooling ... Sunset is gathering into its birth, I know where we are now. I know who we are now. We walk the shore and look ahead, Knowing that after sunset comes the dawn again, After a little rest in the starland between As go the hours, the days, the years, Pulled out, away into the great Unknown. Now we walk together towards that sunset And all the mysteries waiting there. Together we shall find them all; When we reach the last, the Greatest, I expect to turn and find again That girl with the laughing eyes beside me, Ready to run, and run, and run.