footprints in my own dust....

Every step forward

is a step away from the beginning,

a step closer to the end;

each one a loss as well as a gain.

Every step forward

contains within it a grieving

for what we leave behind,

can never have again,

can never be

again.

And I am too old

to believe it can all be done over,

too old to believe

in my own immortality,

watching the dust collect around me.

But I am just old enough to be grateful

that I have walked such a journey

with such friends,

that I have lived in such times,

that I have been given such a life,

and that I am still walking,

that the journey isn’t over,

that I can still

leave footprints in my own dust.

Wendy Stefansson