Old Tricks

Robert Lee Brewer's latest Wednesday prompt was to write a "new start" poem, and as I thought about the new year, my thoughts were drawn to the fact that "New Years' Resolutions" are really pretty futile. About the only thing I can hope for is to just close my eyes, take a deep breath, pray...and leap.

Old Tricks

I feel like the proverbial "old dog":

The one who can't learn a new trick, looking

At the new year expecting to find hope

And excitement, having no idea

How to actually make that happen.

My old tricks have proven unsuccessful,

And I scoff at the new philosophies

Designed to make me believe in myself,

When that's not the problem. I can believe

All I want, but my world has other plans.

I take a step forward, but I stumble,

I'm tripped, distracted, or derailed, often

All at the same time. My ambition aims

Higher than my energy lasts; my will

Constantly beaten down by a desease

Both exhausting and unpredictable.

So every day I start over, every

Year I dive in, not knowing if the pool

Is filled. Will I splash or crash?  "Cannonball!"

I cry, an old trick, but still my best one.

Caren E. Salas