WORN AWAY EDGES

Etched across the old mans face

conclusions of a lifetime -

memories with worn away edges hover in secret bends and folds.

Awkwardly he stands - an old tree

weathered by lightening strikes and long droughts -

scars tattooed across body and mind -

permanent reminders of those significant moments in his history

Heavy sighs reveal the weight and measure of years lived

and ever slowing footsteps, no longer expected to keep pace with others

have taken up a new seductive dance - entwining aching joints in dizzying maneuvers

Hands washed clean of yesterdays living are permanently shaking as he

casts stones deliberately one by one into still water -

mesmerized by ripples of cause and effect stretching across his lifetime.

He smiles inwardly recalling the incredible gifts of pleasure and love

and laughs outwardly at the improbabilities that have shaped his destiny.