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Robert Lindner
With all the sorrows noted here
I got caught up in the fates
And found some Shakespeare
To go with that,
I wish you all well
Robert Lindner
Climbing Up and Going Down the Stairs
“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky
Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull
Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull.”
(All's Well that Ends Well, 1.1.209), Helena
I have to pull the rail
To climb the stairs, as age makes some muscles fail.
But age was climbing hills,
And why we take our pills
To treat the many ills
That come with age, so we can tell the tale
Of life another year.
And so that we can shout, “I am still here!”
One more time before we
Reach our eternity,
Our own infinity,
Where our life, the existence, we hold dear,
Must disappear into
The limits of our health. Till then I’ll do
What I must to get up
The stairs with my teacup
With my cough and hee-cup
To settle my tummy and my throat too.
But then it’s time to take
My walk outside, so I’ll have to try to make
It up the stairs again
After my walk. That’s when
It will be hard, but then,
When I return I’ll nap and when I wake
I will feel better for
Having made the walk and taken in more
Of the world that I’m still
Part of. Although I’m ill.
And that’s what old age will
Do to you if you reach old age before
The three fates capture you
In webs they weave for each life that goes through
Time, which we all must do.
Like I must climb up to
The second floor a few
Times, every day. A short climb, but it grew
Harder, as the years went
By. But I can still make it, though I’m bent
By age. So I will try,
Keep trying, long as I
Can. Just as long as my
Fated fortunes have not been fully spent.
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