THE WHOLE PICTURE
   
       By Delma Luben

Though time takes it's tolls,
aging me constantly,
when I add up my life
and see the whole picture,
I discover a peacemaker,
ever negotiating ...

Taking youthful beauty,
giving poise and dignity.

After a catastrophe, the
blessing of forgetting.

For painful animosity,
the lesson of  sympathy.

Time is a sculptor, carving
unbalance into symmetry--
a problem solver, sorrows
lightener, master of mystery
-- ultimately painting the
whole earthly picture.