I'm not so young but not so very old either <br />yet, I have walked since dawn <br />praying not to distress the hearts of Bees <br />along this way to the Ivory Tower <br /> <br />I have heard it said in songs of pious men who <br />in your presence are gentle like a lamb <br />but in your absence are like a man devouring a wolf <br /> <br />in this stony blackened field <br />where on fat long chairs are Owls and Ghosts <br />you’ll hope your old bones will still work <br />looking all so beautiful so young <br /> <br />but, down to the last best Owl and Ghost <br />we live in a Land of Darkness <br />where the journey of every young child to the Tower <br />is from disappointed Hopes to frustrated Desires <br />where they reap no other Fruit but Pain <br />and the nearest smile are the tears in their bosom<br /><br />Padmore Enyonam Agbemabiese<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-nearest-smile-are-these-tears/
