The final laps
The final laps
The final laps run slower
But the pleasure’s all the deeper
With time to stop to watch the crowd
Who watch the faster runner
In the later laps the needs recede
No show of virtue - just necessity
Small things confer greatest joy
Thank God for smaller things.
No longer two shirts are needed
When one will do quite well
Give him the second who has none
The wish to accrete is gone.
Freedom comes with less clothes
The naked spirit can sing
The psalms of the innocent days
When the world was contained in a cot.
Round the great wheel turns
Back to where it first begun
Round our souls have come
Back to where they once belonged.
All of life is but a circle
For the fortunate few who live
Beyond the Bible’s best guess
Surviving three score and ten.
Blessed are those who see
Their children’s children’s first steps
Blessed are those who last
To embrace the ghosts of the past.
Old age is oft thought a burden
But more than that - a blessing
Given to few, the fortunate,
Aches come with the package.
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