On a Beach

Troubled, life had begun hard

in my teen’s and twenties.

In my thirties, I found my way.

I blossomed, exotic, different.

The ground prepared,

I grew, my forties,
most
 fabulous
had 
their share of tragedy. 

With experience, and my way
and the privilage gained.

I believed, naively,
"I had it all,"
untill it 
all,
was cruelly taken.

Believing life was over -

my sixties looked bleak.

The surprise of renaissance,
a new love, who gave
what others had not,
self belief,

challenged everything

I felt I knew,
of myself, of love, and life.

Nothing on my journey,

the highs, the lows, the fear,

the fortune, the loss,

or the love’s lasted.

The only constant was change.

Not always welcome,

not always easy to accept.

And every moment,
every twist,
 every turn
the high’s, the low’s

of the roller coaster ride,
my ride, I would not wish
on anyone.
It been my ride, my privilage,
My life. Mine - alone to regret.

Where, when, how it will end?

On a beach,
washed clean by the tide?
In truth - it no longer matters:

All I’ve ever had, was the moment.

© David Gregory Barns. Nov. 2017