New Classic Poems – Contemporary Verse That Rhymes

New Classic Poems
Family Matters
Midlife Musings
Neil Harding McAlister
Now that we’re middle aged,
We stop for breath and look around.
What glorious deeds our lives have crowned
By which we shall be gauged
Have we yet reached our goals
The door is closing, year by year.
Sometimes we’re panicked by that fear
While time relentless rolls.
Unruly waistlines spread.
With shock we find such banal cares
Have crept up on us, unawares –
We’re more than halfway dead!
They mock us as they flee,
Those fading dreams of vanished youth!
The time has come to face hard truth:
They may not ever be.
What do we call “success”
Along the way our plans have changed,
Priorities we’ve rearranged.
Old longings we suppress.
Ahead we fear to stare.
Will Father Time, the patient one,
Forgive us for work left undone
Or will he even care
No need to feel depressed:
Life makes us wise as we grow old.
By those who slave for power or gold
No longer we’re impressed.
Could we, as youths, have known
The sights we’d see, the things we’d do,
Our joys, and loves, and children too,
When we to men were grown
As hard-fought seasons mount,
Who tells us if we’ve lost or won
Through toil, reflection, pain and fun
We’ll make each new day count,
And savor every breath!
Put down boys’ dreams and be a man
‘Til ageing steps no longer can
Outpace advancing Death!
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