Inexorably, minutes tick by <br />And time seeps slowly past <br />Like the trickle through the crack in the dam <br />Hardly noticed until <br />The level has dropped leaving a high water mark that no rainfall can reach <br /> <br />No storms can ever, no matter how wild <br />Fill the time, replenish the source <br />It is forever gone. <br /> <br />Hands once straight and strong <br />Grasp for a steadying hold <br />And gnarled and crooked fingers reach out <br />To touch, veined and wrinkled, and with a sigh <br />Retreat to clasp in withered unity, each other. <br /> <br />And rheumy eyes strain <br />To see the light as warm sunshine <br />Dapples on the leaves outside the window <br />Shadows flit and sometimes materialize in song <br />As a bird comes close and shakes its feathers <br />Now seen, then gone. <br /> <br />Life, punctuated by <br />Meal times, institutionalized episodes <br />In a drama so small and insignificant <br />And once a week, when duty calls <br />And his world is filled with sound and bustling <br />And all too soon, is quiet, again. <br /> <br />Treading water, a life lived in memories <br />Of love and loss and pain and joy <br />A symphony, now silent, of voices. <br />Echoes down dusty halls <br />And crumbling walls of a life once lived. <br /> <br />Of purposeful meaning marching forward <br />Ever on, not taking the time <br />To stop and see the…feel the…pulse of life <br />To notice the changes until it ends <br />Here, in this small room, alone.<br /><br />Valerie Lennox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/treading-water-13/
