Life. <br /> <br />It starts. <br />It ends. <br /> <br />It's the bit between <br />That depends <br />On the vagaries <br />Of the lottery <br />Bound up in the verb to be. <br /> <br />Some with an average life expectancy of many years <br />Barely having time to take a breath <br />Before being taught their first and fatal lesson <br />By the chalk white claws and incisors <br />Of the jungle blackboard's hunter-teachers. <br /> <br />Mayflies draw the shortest straw: <br />Just a single, solitary day, <br />And then only if they keep well out <br />Of the Rainbow and Brown Trout's way. <br />Dragonflies don't fare that much better <br />If the truth be told, <br />Four or five glory-filled days at most: <br />Enough to mate – never to be old. <br /> <br />Most birds manage to see the seasons turn <br />Once, twice or more <br />Provided they aren't taken <br />By heatwave or winter's ice-white jaw. <br />And Man's Best Friend is thought generally lucky <br />If he gets to see the other side of a decade <br />Even with the benefit of the comforts of home <br />And all the veterinary advances made. <br /> <br />Man. <br />Theoretically three score years and ten, <br />But really just the time between 'now' and 'then'.<br /><br />Tony Jolley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/between-now-and-then/
