Photo: Poem

Sunrise over the Olympics
Photo by Lee Lageschulte

Life

Looking back through my life I see a hallway,

A kind of byway with doors to rooms once opened up

Where I lived, worked, and enjoyed my skills.

Now as I pass by I remember

Those rooms I can no longer reenter

And long to relive the good times, the thrills.

But I am instead pulled along, can't stay,

Through the passageway of time day by day.

There are the rooms of loved ones who've passed on,

The room of taking my health for granted

The room of music I can no longer hear,

The room with my favorite pet

No longer purring in my ear.

A building remodeled, unrecognizable.

A home now bulldozed, a loss that was sizable.

But you can't revisit the rooms as before,

For time is not meant to repeat itself,

For what purpose, why?

Work with whatever you do have left,

Your health, your eyesight, and memories.

Show the fullness of a lifetime in prose.

Write a memoir, paint a picture, tell your stories.

Moving inevitably toward the open lighted doorway

At the end of the hall,

You still have goals, you have it all.

You've been forged in all kinds of weather

Whether sun, wind, rain or snow.

Now bring it all together. Call it afterglow?

The lighted doorway awaits your arrival.

A good life was your fate.

Now let others know

And step up to the plate.

Vicki Westberg December 7, 2023