The one who should have lived has gone so fast. <br /> The old ones, in their dotage, linger on – <br /> they, with no future, live only in the past. <br /> <br />And we who can but sit, dumb and aghast, <br />scarcely believe that while the sun still shone <br />the one who should have lived has gone so fast. <br /> <br />Six decades older, surviving to their last <br />few days or years, together but alone, <br />they, with no future, live only in the past. <br /> <br />At least she kept on living to the last, <br />but should have had a future. She has none. <br />The one who should have lived has gone so fast, <br /> <br />and they, for whom so many years have passed, <br />are unaware that one they loved is gone. <br />They, with no future, live only in the past, <br /> <br />mark time until the final trumpet blast, <br />and never know the respite they have won. <br />The one who should have lived has gone so fast. <br />They, with no future, live only in the past.<br /><br />Paul Hansford<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/for-mel-villanelle/
