He is Not Old

8/2/08

He is not old who lives himself apart
From sorrow and the sting of hopelessness,
But rather in the quietness of self
Looks calmly on events without distress
And sees beyond the limits of the mind,
The turmoil of emotions that comprise
Our waking state and trouble us in sleep,
Who holds the wonder found in children’s eyes
In the stillness of a heart grown wide and free.
He is not old who having left the fields
Of arrogance and greed and small desires
No longer to the play of passion yields
But knows the secret cave where love resides.
He is not old who welcomes all things new,
Delights in beauty, seeks her in all forms,
His life a sacred plenitude of grace,
A gift that deepens knowledge and aware
That earth is the conscious spirit’s chosen place.