-- In the Long Ago --

John Herlihy

Cobwebs silky, the air still,

The aria long, melancholy.

Listen to the whippoorwill,

Tales told in psalms, holy.

I am now old but still feel joy,

The years were long, but kind.

Good health still mine to enjoy,

Sweet memory still in my mind.

I look far into the long day,

What I see, vanished hours.

Time past makes its own way,

With petals of faded flowers.

I learned about gain and loss,

Sadness and heightened bliss.

Summer nights, winter frost,

Happiness and things I miss.

A life wisdom I now know,

Of endless smiles and tears.

A lifetime, in the long ago,

The road marked in years.

Days awash in mist and rain,

Nights dressed in moonglow.

Poppies bloom on the plain,

Ancient rivers in eternal flow.

Mountain peaks dressed in white,

Rivers carve earth with their flow.

Star dust sprinkles its soft light,

All through the night, falling snow.

We never think that we grow old,

Children’s minds only think young.

Until we realize the story is told,

Our life’s tapestry now fully spun.

I look far into the darkest night,

What do I see, but ancient stars.

Casting light-years of ageless light,

Far beyond the horizon of Mars.

Disappeared into a distant past,

These envoys of God now gone.

Yet, rays of their shine still last,

Soul melodies of celestial song.

Earth years by comparison short,

They happen slow, but recede fast.

My ship now drawn into safe port,

Months, years, a few more to last.

Is it vain for us humans to imagine,

Each soul a star that nightly glows.

Mysteries exist we will never fathom,

Just imagine those stars, who knows.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Thursday 4 November 2021