Just Yesterday

Wasn’t it just yesterday, that bright, September morn . . .
There my tow-headed chum and I on the school-yard grounds,
My world so full of expectation and promise, full-blown,
So full of days undone yet to come?

Wasn’t it just yesterday, that long-awaited day in May . . .
There in blue cap and gown, diploma into my open hand,
Such dreams of great deeds yet undone, great love yet unwon,
Where now these many songs are left unsung?

The mirror’s image now reveals such cold, unkind signs,
Hair stranded with gray, a face somehow prematurely lined,
A testimony true to the unforgiving march of time;
Evidence clear and sure: yesterday exists no more.

Still, the blood flows freely, the lungs fill with air,
The heart beats in time and keeps the hope alive
That God will grant me untold years to come, my work to end,
Years until at the last, I say, “Wasn’t it just yesterday?”