-- An Old Mind --

John Herlihy

An old mind can sometimes offer something new,

We often know things we somehow already knew.

Even as a child, some things I didn’t have to learn,

My young mind already old, guiding me on to yearn.

The young body never accused of being a body old,

A lifetime of harrowing experiences yet to be told.

Which leads me to the question of our reincarnation,

Born again into the world as a kind of resurrection.

I cannot account for all those things I already know,

Not the things that I had to learn in order to grow.

Then there is the feeling of having been there before,

Experience rings familiar, drawn from my soul’s store.

The old mind can never rob a person of feeling young

A young mind has much to learn, its life-song unsung.

But a young mind can do much to revive an old body,

Keeping the spirit alive and well to be still somebody.

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(c) John Herlihy 18 January 2020