He had to return to the old, old dam,
where he often swam as a lad.
To see it crumbling, eroding away,
left him pensive, reflective and sad.
He said"see the high and low water marks
clearly etched on the battered old wall.
With life's flotsam and jetsam pounding away,
my old dam seems ready to fall.
It has guarded life's waters for near eighty years
and has lasted as long as I.
Scars from those years are clearly in view-
I am telling you this with a sigh.
I feel an affinity with that old dam
and can see a reflection of me.
After seeing it slowly decaying away,
I am filled with a deep empathy.
Life. like the waters, must keep flowing on,
ever hampered by time through the years.
I, in my twilight keep thinking on this-
Pardon me, while I wipe some tears".
This old friend recently passed on