Monday, November 22, 2010

THE SEASONS OF LIFE

THE SEASONS OF LIFE






Moose heading home
carved from pine and painted in acrylic by Robert Margetts


Play we did in our youth,

and love we gave with no strings attached.

Together we shared the spring—

the air fresh with evergreen mist,

pastures alive with bees

sipping nectar from morning flowers.

 

Water trickled through our toes

as frogs croaked melodiously

from green lily pads.

In spring, the hours lingered late into night,

bringing the joy of kissing lips

that hungered for the touch of one so innocent.

 

We held each other close

and cuddled in the lies of everlasting love,

forever beneath the watchful eye of a tangerine moon.

 

One score gone by—

my youth fluttering into the summer wind,

yet in beauty she aged not a day.

The girl in penny loafers

shed the leather and walked as a mother.

 

The two who gave birth to a third

frolicked upon some unknown hill,

holding hands and laughing for no reason.

It was simply summertime,

and they bathed in the translucent light of a gracious sun.

 

Blue skies that once gave birth to young goslings

flapping across an endless horizon echoed

now with chilling winds of silence.

Autumn leaves fell to frostbitten grass below

as the time of age kept its course—

never hesitating, never rewinding.

 

Wrinkles ran like tributaries,

and veins grew numerous upon hands and legs.

In the fall of his life,

she stood strong beside him,

holding hands and smiling deep beneath flickering stars.

 

Winter came with promising hands,

effortlessly loosening the hinges.

To the fire it raced for warmth,

laying in wait for the final rock.

Gently it blew upon the graying embers

that once glistened like black coal.

In slow motion the chair—

a pendulum winding down—

rocked to the sound of crackling wood.

 

The cold quickly shrouded their aged bodies

in a nebulous fog of solace,

as the two passed together into the night

within the home of their loving son.

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