What I Miss
By John Herlihy

Yes, I miss many things in my life,
Things that vanished have become rife.
Missing an emotion akin to the dove,
Its cup simply filled with abiding love.
Oh, for the days when I still had my hair,
Now I look in a mirror and simply stare.
The red blush of my cheeks in my youth,
Now a graying pallor make me uncouth.
All the challenges yet to be met and won,
Still a final challenge yet to be overcome.
Random delight in my hopes and dreams,
Now a rainy day is precisely what it seems.
Then the endless days stretching ahead,
Now the few days left fill me with dread.
I guess I’m saying this, I miss my old self,
Those days as nothing but a carefree elf.