Life and Death

Fragile weak and feeble
Body aching with pain from head to toe
Barely remembering my name half the time
Never knowing when it’s my time to “go”

Unable to fully care for myself
The simplest tasks seem so far out of reach
Feeding, grooming and bathing on my own
Appear to have become obsolete

Hitting my golden retirement years
Many plans and much traveling to do
Working a life-time in the business world
Hopes and dreams I now have time to pursue

My family is finally complete now
My oldest still attending high-school
Financially stable and secure at last
Providing my children with independent tools

Struggling feverishly on a daily basis
Just trying to make ends meet
Beginning a new career and family
Never having a moment to take a seat

Finished with college and searching
For a soul mate until the end of time
That one special person in the universe
As we’re well within our prime

Immature and co-dependent
Still holding on tightly to mom and dad
Caring about nothing than friends and partying
And how many things you can actually do bad

Hitting puberty and awkward
An emotional basket case at best
Making your new friends in Jr. High
Hoping that time will fill in the rest

Sweet innocent and perky
Bursting with unbelievable energy galore
Running ramped through your childhood
Never realizing there would be so much more

A beautiful child is born today
Perfect complexion body and face
One happy perfect baby
The entire world at your fingertips to embrace

Unable to care alone for itself
Very tiny fragile and weak
Tasks as feeding and bathing
Are tasks that are to become so bleak

Barely remembering its name half the time
Its body aching from head to toe
So you see birth and death are quite similar
Strolling through life’s many difficult plateaus

Story ID:	2300
Written by:	Stacy Lynn Stiles (bio, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Poem
Location:	Tomah WI USA
Year:	2007