Did They Feel This Way Too?

 Sometimes something happens to jolt we,

 following sure as can be, in the tracks of generations passed/past.

(I'm sure there will be more on the specifics as they unfold)

We are a few days half-past April already!

And lets face it...we who are well on our way

to getting old, Lord willing, got there with far more haste

then ever we imagined!

This poem began yesterday while pushing tots on the swing...

this mindless 'task' sometimes opens the door to sentimental ruminating.

Same swings, different tots as many who once squealed with joy

 fly from the swing

into the world of school-days
(and beyond!!)

and new youngsters take a seat

only to find that all too soon

they will fly way too!

Then my mind leaps forward to those who were a lifetime ahead of me...

Were they as stunned as we

To see time’s reel collect

Faint flickers of imagery

Nothing can resurrect

Did they suffer the roar

Of love’s un-tethered twinge

Soft-startled at the subtle door

That swings on silent hinge

Did they, while we were green

At watching decades fold

Marvel at the short breadth between

The young and very old

...and then with tender bent

Did they pore over stars

Of thankfulness for mercies lent

Of grief turned into scars

Did they with humble tears

Suddenly realize

How swift the distance disappears

Twixt reaching and the prize

Did they, then stooped and gray

Worn by a wave of mist

Feel as we do, awed by the way

A lifetime can untwist

The grave's cold greeting waits
To collect silenced yen
While God flings wide dawn's gleaming gates
...and here we go again

© Janet Martin 

 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, 

before the days of trouble come 

and the years approach when you will say, 

"I find no pleasure in them"--

Eccles.12:1

...and a song for every age!