Headstall's Reflections - 73. Chapter 73 Mortality and Legacy

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Mortality

Its flow is strong and steady

This river in which we swim

A force we can’t control

Unresponsive to our whim

At times it’s crystal clear

Long stretches at a time

‘til currents come un-beckoned

Noiseless as a mime

Like a sniper on a rooftop

Who strikes without concern

We’re caught up in these whirlpools

And their pull ensures our turn

So we swim with all we have

‘til the water again runs clear

And ride the calmer current

Ignoring echoes of our fear

I wish rivers were never-ending

But, their fate is sealed like ours

The fountain of youth is just a myth

Like imagined super powers

With that gentle first plunge

Our tentative wave begins

Innocent ripples gathering flotsam

‘til the end, when death washes sins

But I’ll swim forward until I can’t

Cradling memories of you and me

And I’ll search, for us, an island

When I’m finally swept out to sea

Haikus

The skies are alive

Geese calling in confusion

Before the Vees form

Fingers numb quickly

While prying frozen debris

From the full eave trough

One lone yellow leaf

Clings stubbornly to its branch

Refusing to quit

The raccoon’s chitter

Announces its annoyance

To the neighborhood

The cat’s tail twitches

Body lowered to the ground

The hunt has begun

Cattails turned to fluff

On top of dried yellow stalks

Await the north wind

Legacy

I’ve been trying

to make a deposit

on the future

Not my future,

but yours, dear ones

For it does not serve me

or you

to accept

the gloom and doom

of a world gone mad

I have to believe

A united planet will awaken

to tackle this nightmare

Soon… before it’s too late

I am sorry

For you’ll soon be confronted,

unfairly,

with the fight you face

Please know your grandpa cared

and did what little he could

to ensure

your world had a chance

But, dearest children

As much as we, failed custodians,

with hindsight,

try to make corrections,

the task meets skepticism still,

and grows alarmingly

So you and yours must be warriors

who take back the earth

from the brink,

and illustrate

what selfish and destructive

fools we were

to leave you such a shameful legacy

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