The Lotos Eaters

By John I. Blair

There are so many ways
Of growing old;
The years flow just as fast
For everyone,
But lives are not the same.

A favored few
Evade pain, anxiety,
Adrift on a surreal sea
With clear horizons
All around.

The rest, among them me,
Steer clumsily along
From one disaster to the next,
Surviving just as far
As we can figure how,

Peering now and then
Across the bow
For glimpses of an Afric isle
And lotos eaters
Dancing on the shore.

©2009 John I. Blair