Tag Archives: youth

THE BOOK OF LIFE

Photo by Askar Abayev on Pexels.com

Live long enough

and enough becomes more

then was once imaginable.

It is not resignation

to the seemingly insoluble

problems making the young

passionate and high strung;

nor to youth’s perception

that old people are stuck

in the past, and even the mud.

No, the old are simply elated

that problems which once made them 

passionate and high strung

have been overcome.

The old simply have

more hope for

and less fear of

the future the young will live

with greater energy;

a future which the old may not live to see.

Reluctance to become irate,

wave arms and raise voices of dismay,

may simply be the wisdom to see

no problem is without a solution.

It just my not come for a few more days.

Truly, the old and the young

are writing the same story.

They are merely on different pages

in the book of life.

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CIRCLES

Louise Annarino, 2022, acrylic on canvass

I circle each thought lost

inside out amidst 

newscasts and social media 

circling wagons to create stories

of fearful need to protect

the weakening interior of America

which knows not 

an independent thought.

Which instead seeks death

and destruction of a nation’s

Constitutional protections.

No circles required with facts and reason.

Running in circles means running amok.

I watch the circles expand and contract,

circle one another forward and back.

I get dizzy with disgust as stories go round

and roll down hills that are fake

without any brakes. But, who cares?

Circles of bouncing balls under our feet

keep us off-balance, distracted,

our fears discouragingly protracted.

Where can we rest amid such rolling displays

of ignorance and false flags?

How can we escape from the circles of lies?

How can we find solid surface and stand

safe and secure in this most-beloved land?

Who will tell stories that are straight and flat?

We need much more of that.

Instead, we let the bleed lead a sexier tale,

circling like water down the drain.

We are sucked into circles of muck and disdain

so deep there is no easy escape.

The circle we live on is now on fire,

circling our sun among other stars.

Circles of life persists despite

our circular thinking and culture war.

Toss the circular balls to our children.

Let them play with balls in the air

tossing around new ideas.

Walk slowly until the surface is clear.

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LETTER TO THE YOUNG AMONG US

Photo by Frank Cone on Pexels.com

Rain has ceased her assault for now,

broken records shattered faith 

in weather patterns, and how!

Streets flooded and gardens submerged.

Waves above plants crested and surged.

Climate change shows the fruitless folly

of distracted senses unable to observe

nothing that matters more

then destructive weather battering the door.

Mother Nature refuses to give up on us,

On Earth’s survival and our own.

She bellows and blows

to drive her message home.

The nihilism of our young is no surprise

as they watch all they knew of truth and honor die.

The hopefulness of youth also decries

the callow acceptance of loss

by ancient leaders who fail to count the cost

as their years surmount their reason

in their final season.

Time to allow youth its voice

and watch them lead us forward

to a better choice.

Allow youth to set aside 

the greedy old clinging to their wealth;

as if wealth, not life, is the real prize.

Stay strong young sons and daughters.

These old bones are counting on you

to laugh and love, to plant and grow

a world much better than we have left behind.

I salute you and offer you

all the wisdom you can unwind

from old codgers 

with weak limbs, but loving minds.

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