Life’s big events happen on one timeline
And the reckoning of them on another—
The latter being often the more important,
For I do believe we were put here
Both to learn and to decide.

And if some moments take fifty years to figure out—
If some fears take decades to face—
If some hurts take a generation to heal—
If some decisions take a lifetime to make
And our anger doesn’t make sense until we’re seventy—
Then let us be thankful for the time we have
And make the most of it.

And I am glad, gray hair and all,
To be getting somewhere
I was not ready to go before.

And I have often wished that I had then
The mind I have now,
With which to sort it all out—
But I do see how this, too,
Has come with time
And how there is more yet
To be learned and decided.