Life's Little Joke
WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG AND
MEMORY IS HOT AND SHARP,
CUTTING LIKE A STEEL BLADE
THROUGH PETTY HURTS AND
THOSE ORPHANED GRIEVANCES
SEARCHING ALWAYS
FOR A HOME OF THEIR OWN,
THEN YOU MAKE A SLAVE
OF YOUR UNSEEN SOUL....
BUT NOT UNTIL YOU BECOME OLD,
VERY OLD,
CAN YOUR SOUL FINALLY AWAKEN
IN A SWEET FREEDOM, THE FREEDOM
OF FORGETFULNESS--
FOR BY THEN ALL THE POINTLESS PAIN OF
YOUR ONCE SUNLIT YOUTH IS LONG GONE,
VANISHED WITH LUST AND BEAUTY AND
THAT WILD FIERCE STRENGTH YOU ONCE
OWNED IN MUSCLE AND SINEW....
SO LIFE'S LITTLE JOKE IS THIS: ONLY WHEN
YOU ARE AGED AND WEAKENED AND SO
AFRAID OF FALLING, ONLY THEN WILL YOU
FINALLY FEEL FREE, FREE OF PAST PAIN,
FREE OF ALL REGRET, FREE OF THE FUTURE.
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