The Swiftness of Time

The ravaged face,

Belies a younger life,

Enlivened with friendship,

Suitors constant at the door.

Time, time, time,

Slow down.

The memory gaps,

Deny 90 years

Of happy, energetic activity.

A mind where today

Relevant history lays imprisoned.

Time, time, time,

Slow down.

Trapped inside hunched backs,

Toothless mouths,

And thin-haired pates,

They long to remind us of what really matters

Before time deludes us also.

Time, time, time,

Slow down.

We blame the old for hearing loss,

Yet we are the ones who stop listening.

They call to us, 

Their children and such.

Hasty in our dealings,

Our clamorous world 

Drowns them out.

Time, time, time,

Slow down.

Our chronology is set,

Our own annals to be

Recited to indifferent ears

If we do not learn,

Vita Brevis.