We never did do all we thought we would
When we were young
But still, the door of opportunity
Is mercy-flung
It makes, through our mistakes a way to
Move forward, not back
And helps us, if we try, to make the most
Of what we lack
For wealth is not the equity of assets we may boast
But heart of love and gratitude for that which matters
most
We never did find pie up in the sky
Or pots of gold
But we found something better on our way
To growing old
For in those places God ordained
To answer prayers with wait
We found a wealth of wonder
To humbly appreciate
And as we count our blessings instead of wishes and fears
In the light of true thankfulness Want's darkness disappears
We never did land on Fantasy Island’s
Destiny
But learned to trade in dreams for
Momentous Reality
The Brigadoon that lured us when
Love was still starry-eyed
Has baptized faithful service
With a sweeter, simpler pride
Where what we hold, we’ve come to see, is always on the
verge
Of slipping through our fingers to the shores where echoes
surge
We never did prove much more than our
Predecessors did
The trails we blazed merge like a maze
Strewed beneath heaven’s lid
Where feet, still fleet with dreamer’s dust will kick
Up sacred stars
Then turn to learn that wanderlust has drained
Youth’s sparkling jars
And molded rebel-clay into kinder thank-yous somehow
Keening a purer appetite for life’s Momentous Now
We did find out freedom of choice carries
An awesome weight
And what we speak most loudly needs no words
To validate
We’ve found the common ground of realizing
How it feels
To sense the Past, like puppies always nipping
At our heels
And though, so far from perfect or how we thought
It might be
We find the present is a gift to cherish
Thankfully
© Janet Martin
