We Have Today

Sometimes I think when I'm alone how life can change so fast,
We realize so many times that nothing ever lasts.
When we are young it seems as if the world will never change,
The world just keeps on spinning and our lives don't rearrange.

When I was just a teenager my whole life was ahead,
Having fun and living life with nothing yet to dread.
Yes, I had some problems but I never dwelt on sorrow,
I knew then that everything would work out by tomorrow.

Then I reached my twenties and I felt that I was grown,
I could handle anything in my direction thrown.
I had my life ahead of me and nothing in my way,
I was so enjoying life in work and also play.

Then I reached my thirties and my outlook changed again,
Now the world was not so carefree as it once had been.
New responsibilities became a part of life,
Caring for a family now my children and my wife.

Then a new horizon loomed as I reached middle age,
I then paid more attention to the headlines on the page.
I was so much more aware of worldly news events,
Middle age awakened me to such a broader sense.

The carefree life I knew was gone of being worry free,
Suddenly it seems that all events affected me.
Worry of a world gone mad and worries of myself,
Worries of a stable life and worries of my health.

Worries of the future and just what it all will be,
Worries of the ones I love that mean so much to me.
Worry will not help a thing it only hinders health,
But it seems as I get older I can't help myself.

So as I sit and watch the world that has raced by so fast,
I crave to have that carefree youth that I had in my past.
As the years pile up on me they stop me in my tracks,
Making me just realize what this old world still lacks.

It lacks the love of life we had when we were young and free,
It lacks the human kindness that we once knew it to be.
So in this world of chaos as we struggle to maintain,
With so many worries it could drive us all insane.

Stop to smell the flowers and don't dwell on negative,
Take each day as it comes by and don't forget to live.
For if we live in fear and worry thinking of the sorrow,
We will miss the day we have by thinking of tomorrow.

[ by James A. Kisner © 2001 (PoppyK1@aol.com) -- {used with permission} ]