felt so much, always too much, 
none remember, none recall -- 
losing the capacity to 
feel now at all -- 
telling the stories of 
how it was then 
to fewer and fewer who care 
or who can -- 
this is the pattern, 
repeated again: 
the way of the aging, 
both women and men 
who once believed strongly 
though life was then hard, 
in promises kept, and 
a welcoming yard -- 
to find themselves faltering, 
staggering, sleeping 
with fewer and fewer 
of things left for keeping 
like autumns with family, friends, 
and a sky 
that shone on us all without once
asking why