Midsummer

the longest day of the year

is past

the sun has come and gone

at last

spring's flowers fade in summer's 

gleam

and autumn's leaves shall soon

be seen

the blazing heat belies

the chill

the waning days softly

foretell

another year is dying 

slow

how many more i do

not know

the future with its rosy

hue

is full of things that i

must do

tomorrow soon becomes

today

and then my change has gone

away

the years pile up instead

of dreams

and all the ghosts of might-

have-beens

the garment of the life 

i wear

is full of holes and so

threadbare

my thoughts are like the crows

outside

so loud with things i might 

have tried

the years behind are like 

this day

an echo of what cannot 

stay

and so i bid the sun 

adieu

to God the past make all 

things new

shuffle step

I saw an old man walking

his shoulders softly drooping

the shuffle step

the weight of years

the questions never pausing

I gazed at him unseen

though rough his steps not stopping

from where he came

to where he goes

I knew I'd never know

Has time to him been kind

do memories haunt his way

of faces gone

what might have been

I mused on possibilities

He might have stayed indoors

decaying by the fire

yet on the eve

of death's new day

he chose to soldier on

Perhaps in hime I see

the path we all may tread

each day a chance

to venture forth

and see what lies ahead