The beginning

No plans, clenched hands, embalmed by sleep. Trickling sands.

Swathed in cotton, mattress-bound, intermittent hollow sounds.

Dependent, reliant, unconcerned, unreciprocal, nothing earned.

 

Reel forward

Mental pathways weave and wander, decisions to make, questions to ponder.

Letters to words to Shakespeare and Kant, numbers to ages to wages to scant.

Meeting and matching and splitting and parting; joyous, despondent, uplifted and smarting.

Gadgets, technology, sharpening skills, all tumbling into life’s barrel of thrills.

Cosmetic enhancement, fitness and six-packs, designers, one-liners and financial cutbacks,

Depression, debt, alcohol, eating disorders, OCD, gambling, extravagance, hoarders,

Marring the men and scarring the women regardless of age or social beginning,

On all, the same badge of honour displayed, the output of life: ecstatic, dismayed.

Contorted faces on bodies elastic, the result of misguided usage of plastic,

Elderly brains, still supple and clear, teens wading through with still no idea.

Confusing distinctions, compartments obscure, the ‘Who’s Who?’ of life an ambiguous blur.

 

The end

No plans, clenched hands, embalmed by sleep. Trickling sands.

Swathed in cotton, mattress-bound, intermittent hollow sounds.

Dependent, reliant, unconcerned, unreciprocal, nothing earned.