HOW LIFE SLIPS

Press your breasts
against my chest
and hold me tight.
The world will take
care of the rest
as it always does,
as it has always done.
At forty-four I’ve come
to know I’ll never get
to most things; much wisdom
I’ll never own; that all the beauty
we earn with our talent
and persistence barely
outlasts us, if we’re lucky.

The children are getting older
and will soon be gone.
Markets rise and crash
and retirement savings
might survive or not.
Time can’t be slowed
no matter how long
we grasp the past.
Hold me tight
and you just might miss
how life slips into a memory,
as we grow even closer
than we ever thought
we could.

© Daniel Goodwin