Residual lives

Residual lives

Eyes still shine

Pearls that were diamonds.

China cups droop

In trembling hands

Old stories drip

From smiling

Mouths.

Receding gums are mandatory

The wailing and gnashing

Is best avoided.

The broken hearts

Are long dead

And dreamless.

The loved ones still survive

With stories to tell

The fighters stump along

Waving a cane

Always angry at something

Old soldiers

Union men

Ready to make a stand

Against something or other.

The schoolmistress

Has the loudest voice,

Still.

Her pupils

Give ground

Ashen faced children

Every one.

She who would be obeyed

Frowns

Sadly

She would give anything

To be loved

As once

For the briefest time

She was.

Fear is not a friend

It is not subjective.

Pragmatism

Is not a branch of mathematics

But she has counted the days

Since last

She held a hand

The simplicity

Of contact

Freely given

Will it ever happen again

The quickening heart

The brightening,

A lesson,

Finally learned.

Whatever the philosophy

It is better to be loved

Than feared.