Life's Fading Rose

I have seen much travail in the days of my years,

And have along the way confronted a multitude of fears.

Yet, sometimes even now I reminisce about those days of old,

Those days of when I stood tall in the valley of kings,

Those days when I charged forth both brave and bold.

Yet, now…somehow, it does not mean a thing.

For those days are now just dust in the recesses of my mind,

And remain therefore just useless reminders

 of my life in another day and time.

A time when the world was to me still new,

A time when life had less a slanted view.

But now through the days of my years,

With their impartial and downward slide,

I can see more clearly, now, what I once did fear,

As I sip from the golden chalice of the ebbing tide.

For nothing back then means nothing today,

And since I have almost seen it all,

I feel free at last to just fly away.

So, with Leah, secure and ever by my side,

And with the children now grown and unto their own lives abide.

Then we…I, my darling Leah and me

Will at last be free to stand once more in the valley of Kings,

Whereunto this place we shall live out the remainder of our dreams.

For soon, even dreams such as those

Will become the dust which lay broken on life's fading rose.

J. Allen Wilson © 2005