Our Journey
Life is but a wilderness
Of happiness and gloom . . .
And each step, but one footfall
On its pathway to our Doom.
The joyous leap of Childhood;
The confident stride of Youth;
The sad hobble of Infirmity . . .
ALL lead to Death's cold truth.
Mortality
That laughing lad's red, rosy cheeks??
That lovely lasss' dimples??
Alas . . .
His cheeks grow flaccid, gray and weak;
Her dimples turn to wrinkles . . .
Immortality
Time consumes all things extant,
The minute and the massive.
EAch microbe, mote or continent
Succombs to Time - impassive.
But, words and deeds delay Time's wear -
Despised or venerated.
The tyrant's boast - the martyr's prayer
Are, in minds, perpetuated.
Earl W. Shallenberger