Wisdom May Be All That Is Left

I once ran a mile in four minutes fifteen,
Made love to two ladies in one night,
Smoked two kinds of weed and drank beer,
Read Tolstoy, Rod McKuen and Gibran,
Married in lust, we learned to love.

Wrote and ranted and rhymed and punned.
At times I almost made sense to me at least.
Somehow the years passed unnoticed,
An eternal procession of dawns and twilights.
The privilege of knowing them carelessly ignored.

I now walk a mile and need a week to recover.
In remembrance of the ladies I loved, I smile
Except for the tears for the one I love.
I’m allergic to smoke, the eyes are dim,
Lust is a memory and every dawn is precious.

JEMcL Oct 2016