Ernest Knowles ©May, 1990

Once there was a young man

lying in the shade of a stately oak,

who watched a gray haired man jog briskly past him every day.

“Foolish old man, you’ve already lived your life;

why don’t you stay home and spend the rest of your days in peace.”

The old man slowed

and turned his head toward the youth,

whom he had often seen sleeping where he lay.

“Foolish young man, you’ve not yet lived your life;

why don’t you get on your feet and spend the rest of your days in paradise.” 

There are those who, young in years,

are old before they are.

And there also are those for whom age is just

a state of mind.

Better that we rejoice with young spirits,

and become masters of our soul,

than give up our bodies willingly to an early dust.