Whoosh Before Life's Last Crepuscles Poem by gershon hepner

Aging means you may give in to “nevers, ”
feeling that you’ve run out of the levers
you need when you’re confronted by huge rocks,
to push them so they won’t be stumbling blocks.

That’s why the Torah says: “Stand up when with
a hoary head.” The Sisyphean myth
applies to those who’re old or blind, and tumble
when on a Sisyphean rock they stumble.
Old age and blindness often go together.
In both conditions we’re uncertain whether
the road ahead is clear-it’s hardly ever,
so those who’re old must push hard as a lever.

If you give in to old age, and don’t lift
yourself as you’re supposed to, you’ll collapse.
If you don’t fail, you may get a Festschrift,
to celebrate your ripe old age-perhaps,
but if you cannot lift yourself, to push
no option for you with your aging muscles,
you’ll be defeated, and the Nike whoosh
will not be yours in your life’s last crepuscles.