Shalom Freedman Poems

I AM OLD NOW/ AND A THING TAKEN FOR GRANTED ONCE

I am old now
And a thing taken for granted once
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HOW CAN DESPAIR IN OLD AGE BE CONTENDED WITH EACH DAY?

How can Despair in Old Age be contended with each day?
How can one deal with the dark thoughts?
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THE LONG SONG OF MY OWN SADNESS

The long song of my own sadness
Plays within me
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I could not even correct a masterpiece which already had largely been written
A day in which I could not bear to sit inside at my desk and do nothing
I had to be outside in the sun moving
Only that would distance the anxiety
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I do not want to be old
I am already too old
Thirty forty years too old
I will soon be old old.
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And the child is alright
You begin to live again

Who can know but Parents of sick small children
the Fear that Love engenders?
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IN OLD AGE WE MORE NEED OUR FRIENDS

In old age we more need our friends-
They make us feel we are still alive
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The past is in us
It's our home
We go back to it again and again
And its not there-
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WHAT IS LIFE IN ALL ITS BEAUTY?

What is Life in all its Beauty
When it all goes by
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The poems grew tired of themselves
They knew they had been written many times before
They were tired of their own repetition-
But when they insisted they no longer be written
...