the back burner

getting younger

Age is a funny phenomenon. I can't remember much before I was eight years old, but I do remember always feeling very old, as a kid. It's only today that I really find that odd, since today I really considered age for the first time.

I'm 22, and the weird thing is, I feel younger now than I ever have before: fresher, more faithful. Can anyone explain this to me? Maybe it comes from the fact that the Spirit of God is bringing his people to greater depths of childlike trust. I'm enjoying the feeling, but I wonder if it will continue. I have friends aged 30 to 50 who are all feeling old. Worn out. Faithless and underutilized. Dryer and less capable than earlier in their lives.

...

miracles begin to die around thirty-two,
so I've been told,
and this parabolic maximum looks better
from the approach
than from that exalted ground itself.
will i too decrease
and follow the setting sun, making room
for younger trees
and brighter greens, and will my tresses grow
beautiful and dry?
autumn is a season of growing dependence,
of failing roots,
of breathtaking glory and of running sap.
such prospects intimidate
my summer time heart, for miracle trees receive
only four seasons.