Younger wanting to be older
Older wanting to be young
Child wishing to be bigger
Bigger wishing to be thinner

Teen wanting a clearer face
Clearer face wanting a better body
People lamenting bad hair days
Bad hair days replaced with no hair days. . .

We diss what we have
Wish for what we lack
When what we have is gone
Oh, what we'd give to have it back!

Youthful desires for future yearning
Future bearing down like a train
Elders' memories of past unnerving
Hit by a train never the same



Mark Toney © 2020

The dragon dance of death,
Born in silent Wuhan
Round and round far it goes,
Filling ballrooms of Rome
Hip Hop, Tap, Rock and Roll
Taking breaths of poor souls
Healthy youth fit to dance,
Saving our elder lives.

sugar cane berry stains

lost friends life's bends

mountain still, in the end




there and back, i've been

we were kids, you were teens

we learned a lot, what we've seen




one more shot before we go

that sacred breath you always know-

when to call it a day

Her platinum blonde hair was a firm
     spunky Irish when she was a kid
And compelled me to wish for time travel
     as I have loved her since she's existed

She says she'll table dance if she wins
All for a package of crackers I'd have
    never kicked her out of bed for eating
Says if I'm lucky she'll pick Mardi Gras beads

I told her that from her wedding picture
     Veronica Lake had nothing on her
She said straight into my transparent heart:
     "I've had a good life"

. . .and I was lucky

Open up your doors
The soul of the elder
Rusted keys chirp
Under prints small flutter
Fly into the heavens
Songbird of far
Death until morning
Follow knight’s star