**With tomorrow being my birthday I give you:
by brian francis
Youth has passed
its burden gone;
the climb to age
is over.
What once was endless
now moves on,
the feeling left
is somber.
The lessons of
those long passed years
stole the innocence
of youth;
and left me here
so austere
watching shadows lengthen.
My time has come
to saunter down
the hill I sought
to conquer;
and to look with fear
upon the year,
I’ll walk this land
no longer.
Copyright © 2021 brian francis
Wordsmith: At The Forge 