~~ Being Old ~~

It's because you are so young,
You do not understand.

But I am old
As the jungle trees
That bloomed forever,
Old as the forgotten rivers
That flowed into the earth.

Surely I know what you do not know;
Joy of living,
Uselessness of things.
You are too young to understand yet.
Build another skyscraper
Of misdeeds and greeds
Touching the stars.
I sit with my back against my past
And watch skyscrapers tumble
And stars forget.
Solomon built a temple
And similarly, it must have fallen down.
It isn't here now.

Well, Love, I'll tell you:
Life for me wasn't a crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards tattered up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Cold and bare.
But all the time
I've been climbing on,
And reaching new lands,
And turning corners,
And sometimes getting in the dark
Where there has been no light of hope.
Only desperation.

So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
Cause you find it hard.
Don't you fall now…

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Bring me all of your dreams,
Sweet dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.
I will be your dream keeper…

Darling, I know some things, being old,
Which you still do not understand...