Backward into time there was another me
I was solitary but brave and sure
my finger stretched out to the edge of eternity
life was instant glory---pain I'd not have to endure-

the years spoke later:  how fragile is beauty
for love that's vanished, where's the true cure?
lost innocence weeps to last for a century
the waters left to drink have all become impure.

Ten persons in the committee
       views expressed amounted to twenty

To comply, to follow, to join
   to be part of the cause of others
   to repeat words that they coin
   to believe, to please, to drown in errors

Some day
when? uncertain
near or distant?
weeks follow days
then months come to stay
years are too eager
they rush their way-

all this culminates
in the sum of days

but the glory has lost
its former sway
the will has weakened
beauty has been kept at bay

no longer the blue sky
the stage has put on a new play
the old actors have left
some are already bedded in clay

'some day'
an expression
that but brings
pain and dismay

if only youth
had seized the day
of beauty and love
before time had swept it away.