EXTINGUISHED

EXTINGUISHED

It’s easy to lose sight of things,
Lurking right beneath your nose.
Out of place in your flesh and blood,
Overdressed in your Sunday clothes.

It’s easy to feel all but useless,
For friends lose sight and fade from view.
You wonder what it ever was
The world and its kingpins saw in you.

Where once you held the silver and gold,
Now you shiver in the bitter cold.
Where once you were sartorially dressed,
Where once you were distinguished,
The fire has vanquished from your soul,
Your hope all but extinguished.

It’s easy to get lost in dreams,
To toss and turn in fitful screams.
To crave the drama and the tears
Of the life you left behind.
The magic of your useful years,
The slow decay of passing time.
The place inside your tattered heart,
The plans you have relinquished.
The scorched remains of all you’ve lost,
The light of love extinguished.

It’s easy to lose sight of hope,
To find misery in your horoscope.
To forget that life is give and take and a constant letting go.
That you need the change of seasons, the ice storms and the snow.

To understand that life is making way for a whole new generation,
To put its stamp on what has gone before,
The end of the road, the closing of the door.
It’s all in the game that they forget your name
That they write and call no more.

And though your future looms before you,
Right now your purpose seems obscure,
Just hold on tight with all your might,
Though disease consumes and there is no cure.
To everything there is a season and life still has a reason.

Though it may not be the life you wished,
There is a future in your crystal ball,
Towering high and looming tall,
You are still magic in your way,
You still are quite distinguished,
The fire is smoldering and will flame again,
You are the man you’ve always been.
Like the phoenix you shall rise, before your very eyes,
Never small and never slight, never quite extinguished.

-Bruce Potts
Copyright 2010
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED