Here is a secret
impossible
for youth to
comprehend:
How welcome is
this faded, futile
Self;
How Beauty
might be
found
in what
Remains.
No more the vital
Stalk and promise;
No more the burden
of fragile fruit
and its inevitable
Fall.
This
is another thing -
A relinquishing of
Will,
Release of roots
and
visage.
Hear the ancients whisper:
How imperceptibly
Life passes;
How welcome is
the final
Gale.