At this my long
in the tooth phase
I know that plans
and promises are as
unlikely to be kept 
as an explorer spinning 
a tale in order 
to receive favor from 
his king boasting of 
a brave new world 
Sometimes people do stay
true pointing to their 
horizons but those are 
likely only the adventurers 
and the truly courageous 

There is an infinite 
amount of beauty in 
our world but for 
me it’s in little 
things like a child’s 
laugh a dog’s yawn 
midnight snowfall but my
favorite is your smile 
and your hand reaching 
for me as I 
am about to go 

Before before I wanted 
to remember every nook
and cranny of my 
then life I kept 
memorizing memories like a
teenage girl remembering love 
notes thinking that maybe 
if I keep them 
and recall them and 
sigh about them then 
maybe they will stay
but now with this 
before this before after 
the first before and 
before this new now
came a firestorm which 
scorched everything and those 
precious fantasies of before 
before turned into the 
wasteland of now before 
and now this new 
now from the ashes 
of everything gone before 
and before before’s comes 
hope and experience and 
no longer expectation for 
expectation burned before beforehand