Born Again?

For millennia Believers with narrow minds
have taken the phrase 'You must be born again'
as a license to lecture all that they should be like them.
Through this injunction they have renewed
the accepted sense of straight and narrow.
By getting others to censor their lives
beyond their own understanding.

Meanwhile in liberal secular first world societies 
the masses experience a similar sense of elation,
a grace as cheap, that renews less and is more pervasive.

This time the kick comes through surviving illnesses
that in previous generations meant the end of life
which modern science has beaten, hands down.
The scientists who find their cures might be 'heroes'.
Patients who live longer are merely 'following orders'.

True gratitude for life will renew.
The deeper it goes the more it renews,
ultimately to the level of saying nothing about it.

Signs Of Greater Age (1)

(1)when hearing modern music
complaining that you can't hear the words
for the music-you wish the music
that was backing the singer
was at lower volume.

(2)quietly mourning the loss
of doors that open manually
in public spaces, because
you miss the small grace
of opening the door
for another person.

(3)Finding that the longer you live,
and more you experience it,
the more silence increases in value.

Happy Birthday David Bowie,

who turned 65 yrs old yesterday.
To fill their pages the press reran
all his greatest publicity hits.
He did nothing:
like the best illusionists'
he knew when to stop,
the better to leave a good impression.