The Enemy
Age entwines
Squeezing the tectonic plates
Of illness; creaking then cracking,
Groaning the white’ning bones
Which hold soft tissue stiff.
Age invades;
Slowing the link between
The mind and tongue,
Blurring the sense of what’s abroad,
Worse still, of what’s to come
Age corrupts;
Poisoning the so-called will to live,
Rotting the sight, the strength, the grip
On what we hold most dear,
That gilds, within, our possibilities
Age foresees;
Death’s onset and oblivion,
The closing of that well set trap,
The end that is our nothingness
Forgotten by the others who survive.
Yes, and sometimes if we're lucky age also brings wisdom.
ReplyDeleteNewRobin13: Guess I haven't been lucky
DeleteWell that's cheered me up no end!
ReplyDeleteAnon: Sorry about that. But in a sense the subjects choose me, rather than the other way round. I'll check out the shelves at Tesco for something more upbeat.
ReplyDeleteSorry that this subject chose you so, RR. Perhaps D. Thomas was more uplifting?
ReplyDelete"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
See if Tesco has him on the "out of date" shelf.
Avus: I'm well aware of the Thomas lines but that wasn't how I felt. I had the urge to write and - if I could - catch the truth of the experience.
DeleteThat's really good.
ReplyDeleteHonest, insightful, and fearless.
DeleteColette: Thanks for that. However depressing one should, I think, aim for the truth. I woke up that morning and the phrase "tectonic plates of illness" seemed to have arrived from nowhere. I felt I had to use it. Thanks in particular for "fearless".
Delete