Reflections

When we at last
Have clawed our way
To the heights
Of our life’s desire
To the apex
To the very pinnacle
To which we
Have long aspired
We are disillusioned
For our dreams and goals
Have been hollow ones
They desert us now
In our most needy hour
Ashes and embers
Are all that now remain
Of our youthful, raging fires
All we knew
All we have ever loved
All the best of things
Have faded into the years
And have been replaced
By mounds of money
Laying useless, mouldy
Unwanted, unneeded
In some distant bank
And by creaking, shaky limbs
By empty passages of bitter time