When the shadows of time stretch long,
And years weigh heavy, like a somber song,
We rise to dance, to stay, to strive,
But the winds of age chill the fire alive.
The body tires, the mind grows frail,
We wrestle with clocks, to no avail.
Once we ran on roads of boundless dreams,
Now we stumble along fate's narrowing seams.
Technology breathes, but lifespans thin,
The progress we worship wears shadows within,
Gone are the days when elders stood tall,
With wisdom and vigor that wouldn't stall.
Fear flutters near, with each passing year,
Dreams once so bold, now blurred and unclear,
In youth, we soar, with visions untamed,
Only to find them lost, or forgotten, unnamed.
An Ai generated IMAGE
Grandma once whispered in evenings aglow,
That our hearts chase horizons that few ever know,
We aim for the summit, yet too often we fall,
Caught in the tides of a world we can’t stall.
What have we, then, to show at the end?
Children, perhaps—yet no great ascend.
Life's greatest feat, so simple, it seems,
A natural course, devoid of grand dreams.
I fear not the wrinkles, the bending of bone,
Nor the solitary twilight spent alone.
I’d sit in my silence, let nature unfold,
If only my mind, my thoughts, could still hold.
No golden leaves fallen, no winter-cold blight,
Could steal from me that soft inner light.
Not the dimming of sight, nor the stiffness of frame,
But the loss of my spirit—that would be my shame.
Let me age, let me crumble, let me grow still,
But never deprive me the strength of my will.
For I’ll endure the dust, the fading of hue,
So long as my mind still remembers the blue.