Rosalind Revisited II

Some sunshine with blue in the sky
On this day I come again
To a cemetery the other side of town
To where you lived.

There's a picture on your headstone
It's in colour and clearly shows
Your reddish hair and curls
And eyes that know everything.

For some reason you were nominated to leave us early
Not to follow the usual paths of life
We lost your gifts to our society
You were never someone's wife.

The Pit

Standing on the edge of the pit
The one labelled seventy
Our sixties seem fine and we are
Striving to resist being sedentary.

The knees still work but ache
The eyes aren't what they were
The hearing is just acceptable
But the days rush by in a blur.

Daily it seems we are visited
By deeds and words from before
Flags of conscience pass our eyes
Like a malicious semaphore

Why did we say those words
Which made another soul cry
Or trample on the ideas of folk
Who couldn't stand eye to eye.

Perhaps now it is our duty
To help others to reach and climb
After all we have now been there
Won experience and done the time.

Let us all stand at the edge of the pit
Link arms, hold hands and laugh
Jump in! The next ten years could be
Like a warm and scented bath.

15th January 2013