Old-Age Sweetness
A sweetness graces growing old as husband and wife.
Each partner's love for the other waxes richer,
Knowing the candle lit when young is short on life,
They grieve before grief at a dimming picture.
Words and acts of anger practiced ages past
Are now kindled with kindnesses to a fault.
The process is hurried but has a celestial cast,
And it goes forward snuffing every assault.
Thoughtful attention to the other's health
Illuminates their actions day and night.
Possessions are no longer seen as wealth,
And every flickering pain is cause for fright.
Time will have its way come a fated day
When the Reaper swings his scythe full round.
The survivor survives by reliving the caring way
The old-age sweetness together they found.
That sweetness is made the sweeter still
By what the survivor knows in the heart.
The separation will be brief by God's will,
And they need never again be apart.
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