Sadness Knows…
by Odin Roark

Remembrances stand invincible.
The school yard dissing.
The last pick for a ball game team.
Then the inward eyes of rejection.

Regrets abound unavoidable.
No amount of blame-game works.
Mistakes are permanent,
Even though correctable.

Aspirations flourish.
Youth knows so well the rush.
Middle age knows so well the reality.
Later age understands change is inevitable,
Even as conscious minds move cautiously.

Feelings have evolved,
Some wanting to be retired,
Others so alive,
So real to the time at hand,
Wondering why it took so long.

Snapshots of one’s mind-scrapbook
Delivers mixed emotions.
Why was she that?
Why was he so…?
Mother?
Father?
FRIENDS?

Hope lunges forth.
“Hey, you, that all you got, Mr. Fella, Lady?”
Avoid the mirror.
It conspires to…
Well, you know.

Trust “trust.”
It saturates the doubt age loves to sell,
But you have to look.
You have to feel.
You have to return.
See the playground
Where it all started…
And ends.

Remember sadness knows,
Being one’s constant reminder of life,
Nudging us to realize living through it all
Is the big mofo,
That major impediment everyone eventually has to overcome.