These Are My JOTtings, Part #2

Homage to W. B. Yeats: "The Lasting Hope"

The Day of lasting hope I see
beyond this Earthsuit's pain-ed crust.
My Master waits o'er there for me
and bids me always on Him trust,
abiding in His Presence be.
'Mid raspy throat and weary bones
this Earthbound pilgrim follows hard,
awaking often with some groans
such agony creates a bard.
Bright sunlight shines upon the day,
and rainclouds soak the parch-ed ground.
The good and bad do meet in fray,
while humans oft endure the sound.
The days of color, ebb and flowing,
stand in contrast with the Last.
Hopeful hearts to brim are glowing
to see the Day of Shadow past.
The man of loam on dusty road
lives with the truth that life is death.
A moment and the life in breath
rises again from what was sowed.

A-living here the Earthbound way
doth seem the only way that's real,
but Truth be more than senses feel.
This daily we must plainly say.
The turning clock becomes a wheel
as days spill o'er to sprinting years.
The Earthsuit flags enduring jeers
as painful steps out-drown the truth,
that best of life's not wasted youth.
The aging years lose not appeal.
A child now lives in weary shell
with hopeful mem'ries still to tell.
What's left to make is very real!
That Robert Browning long ago
quoth wondrous truth to lift the heart
the way t'ward Home we swift will start
when speaking courage that we know.
"The last of life 'tis made for thee
from youthful learning clear we see
"The story writ by God I feel
accelerates us t'ward His House."
What blessed thought, eternal Spouse,
is living here our way to heal.

My Earthsuit balks when test is drawn.
It loves to sit and stretch and yawn.
But lasting work of artist shared
is made when nothing stops his brush.
He presses through to show he cares,
that inspirations never crush
with spirit-muscle fully bared.
The brooding heart of Poet Yates
may share great words, that feel like weights,
but just like Browning's glowing thought,
his purpose shows a lasting truth,
that when we serve as always taught
our latter end will fill with youth.

by Jay O'Toole
on December 16th, 2018