Straight On

“To die … will be an awfully big adventure.” - J.M. Barrie ~ grown gray, had I, with stiffened bones the pains and aches that old age owns yet I could still dredge up that vow … (the one I’d made long years from now) to cheat the reaper’s blade … somehow I swore that I should not then roam - that second star, far-flung from home and yet, the hope that wrote my chart (from hopes mere flesh did not impart) that quest - to save my childish heart so, twice to starboard, sextant free I set course through a dream or three to leave that mortal world behind … (and mortals, quite the dearest kind) for Neverland … deep in my mind … for … Neverland! Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, January 18, 2023