One day you will look for me
When you are old and frail and gray
When your strength is spent
With no one to guide or care
And you will not find me
One day you will call and I will not answer
You will look around
And find I am not there
When the hands and feet nearest you
Are as old and frail and as weak as yours
One day you will seek me to no avail
And I will no longer care
When you realize you cannot go on
You will seek me on your terms
And I will reject your offers and pleas
One day you will find yourself alone
Bereft, dejected, and abandoned
In your palaces of gold and silver and plaster
Grandiose mansions and palatial castles
With beautiful rooms devoid of people
Bedecked halls of choice artistry
Dusty, empty, cobwebbed, and hollow
Spacious grounds and security fencing
Lush greenery and dainty gardens
With no sound save the echo of loneliness
One day you will look for me
And I will be gone
Tired of being nameless, faceless, maltreated
Oppressed, repressed, and disenfranchised
I will take my leave
When I realize I am but a cog in your wheel
A means to extend your legacy and loyalty
A bolt, a nut, a screw, a wedge — a tool
No more than an inanimate object
Manipulated like a piece of equipment
I and my generation have left you to your devices
And survey with nonchalance
As your kingdoms implode and the houses crash down
The nuts, bolts, screws, and wedges coming askew
As your lifetime structures become rubble
You realize much too late
That without the youthful and young
The bountifully energetic and strong
Your lifetime structures are but empty edifices
Degenerating in the noonday sun
© Imabong Faminu, 2020
What do you think?