Photo by Joni Brennan-Hazlett
At Forty
I don't remember
where I was going
or how I got here
except for a few moments
in the womb of a train at night
outside the window a moon
and inside a sound
so steady it seemed like silence
it's too late I know
but I keep thinking it will
get earlier I will start
getting younger slowly
and this time doing it backwards
I will do it right
and finally I will
grow smaller and become
a good wise child at last
Richard Shelton
I don't remember
where I was going
or how I got here
except for a few moments
in the womb of a train at night
outside the window a moon
and inside a sound
so steady it seemed like silence
it's too late I know
but I keep thinking it will
get earlier I will start
getting younger slowly
and this time doing it backwards
I will do it right
and finally I will
grow smaller and become
a good wise child at last
Richard Shelton