With Gold and Crystal Bejeweled

He said he would prosper
If he lived that long.
Meanwhile, life happened
Passing like a freight train.
The years, the dusty years:
They rolled and rolled.
To some event not planned.
Water in the summer, ice in the winter
Was the way the world rolled.
Sometimes it seemed as if
Only a pauper could live the life
	unimpeded.
Rest was torn from the room
Like old and faded wallpaper.
There was an erstwhile event
Unfolding like origami. 
Nevertheless, nature spoke 
And everyone listened.
When their turn came
People stood at attention
And took their pay.
The military was no help at all.
Even guns became mute as asps.
Thus we see that everlasting is a real
	fidelity.
Brides give over their hands
To a ring of gold.
The gold will not tarnish,
But earth will eat it.
Noon turns to dusk
Like a drunken sailor--
	staggering.
Time is short in this place,
This place of fine crystal,
All clear, transparent, bejeweled.
She is decked out in finery,
No fool would scorn her.
No sailor would pass her
	unnoticed.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2015

Poem

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Grahamburglar Avatar
May 2, 2016 at 11:28 AM
I'm glad this was featured or I may have never found it. The unrelenting march of time is one of those concepts I think about often. Everyday, we try to look forward to whatever is next, while missing the present...and someday, no doubt, we will look back and wonder how we missed so many opportunities. Thank you for this thoughtful, and well-written piece. -G
Yates Avatar
May 3, 2016 at 10:33 AM
The years like great black oxen tread the world, and God, the herdsman goads them on behind, and I am broken by their passing feet. --William Butler Yeats
Simpson Avatar
February 24, 2015 at 5:14 PM
Wonderful poem, Bill. Very evocative!
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