Please! One Little Bit Longer. Poem by Bryan Taplits

No longer am I young, assured-
Too late I came to know
If ever I saw what was once true or sure…
My aim was much too slow.
And now I see what has passed me by-
I see that 'sure enough'-
For these days the bulls-eye is way too far-
And my joints have slowed me up.

If I could have one more 'one more'….
I'd light upon my once youthful wings,
and with a shriek- unbound- would soar-
So, this 'ageing' I then could fling.
But 'Time' is like so many myriad hoofbeats
You hear shuffling to a sorry end,
Once you were a snorting steed with rollicking hopes
But now you wicker-and whinny-and bend.
And you know the steed has near past-
and will ne'er come your way ever again-
…until you hear the pursuing of that shuffling steed's hoof beats-
And you shiver with what they portend.