Passsage

When we are young and in our blush,

The years drag by, they never rush.

We know not of the hidden ploy

Of what will bring the tears, the joy.

Though slowly as time sneaks away

We find ourselves in teenage fray.

We grow, we work, time cannot stay

When children are our workaday.

Before we notice where it went

We realise half our time is spent.

Our kids move out, they know their plight

And we adopt our onward flight.

Retirement years are come at last

As we begin our final blast

To seek, to find, to have the fun

Of travel, play, adventure, sun.

Then wandering in fleeting thought

We ponder just how 'now' was wrought.

And surely as the autumn leers

We find ourselves in senior years.

Time to reflect, time to forget,
To reminisce, but not regret

The wonder of this precious strife

As humans, conscious, dressed with life.

--- James Noel

11^th September 2019

I don't know where these poems come from as I've never considered myself a poet. This one came to me the other day, prompted by the thought "The years slip by". While I’ve written a number of short stories, it is only the forth poem I have ever written. All being in the last 20 years.

o0o

Living Principles

1. Accept the consequences of all your actions and take personal responsibility for them.
2. Treat others as you would reasonably expect them to want to be treated.
3. Endeavour to empathise with others and practice compassion.
4. Respect every person’s right to have control over their own body.
5. Consider others, including future generations and the world which gave us life.
6. Strive to discover what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.
7. Rely on the best tool yet devised to understand the natural world - The Scientific Method.
8. Appreciate that we are products of the natural universe.
9. Celebrate that you are fortunate to exist as a consciously aware being.
10. Immerse yourself in the awe and wonder of the natural universe and its mysteries.
    
    

The above are drawn from various humanist sources and edited to be succinct, and for each to begin with a motivational word.

The first five relate to how we treat others, and personal responsibility.
The next five relate to rational inquiry and personal experience.