Aging

The day will come when I am finally free
Free of the pain of struggle
Whether toiling from work
Or failing in health
The days will conspire
To take it away

My bones tell the stories
Of motions not practiced
And years of neglect and mistreatment
My muscles are strained
Tired, weak, and flabby
Used only for sitting and sleep

Within the prison of the body
The mind flits from cell to cell
Imagining a past nearly heroic
When times were joyous
And filled with bright colors
Play, discovery, invention

But now time leaves me
On its way to forever
Splitting from my soul
To wherever it goes
A black empty space
I can never imagine

Is that all there is?
A vast void forever
With no thoughts, no memories, no feeling?
Can that be the end
That I’ve marched all this way for?
A room full of nothing but silence?

Or is there more that I cannot imagine?
A glory, an explosion of beauty?
Fond remembrances
Sweet release
No suffering
No pain….