IF I COULD stop the world for just one day,
Like Joshua, command the sun, “Stand still!”—
Would time stop, too? The hours that rush away,
Would they sit, patient, waiting on my will?

If I had stopped the years from rolling on,
Would you stay as you were ten years ago?
Could we stay happy in those days long gone?
No point in asking: we can never know.

So I can only hope that life is best
When it moves forward; even if we bend
A little lower with each year, a rest
Is waiting for us somewhere at the end.

 

In memory of Patricia M. Fullinwider, 1940-2011.