Looping Back (Poetry)

How age and its attendant sorrows
brings us breathless to our knees
and our limited tomorrows
concentrate the mind’s unease

Within the worn and ruined body
burns the flame of what once was
and the passing years seem oddly
contradictory because

while our backs were turned time slipped away —
a green snake hid well in grass
most things change little day by day
unremarked the seasons pass ...

The first hint of grey as evidence
the faint wrinkle in the skin
a shock to wonder where youth went
and what trials old age might bring

Now age is here and our bones implore
that we rest though thoughts race on
flesh can’t stand the pace anymore
the strength in our limbs has gone

It’s hard not to rage and be bitter
pain has us broken and beat
we ache to feel young and fitter
slumped in life’s last narrow seat

What small compensations might relieve
such sad symptoms rooted deep?
No cure for age but some believe
youth returns in spells of sleep

So dream away and blot out sorrow
time’s a circle looping back
to the past — forget tomorrow
future ghosts wait down the track