Promises to keep

All I had to do

Was keep a promise to you

And that is what I did

For your kid.

 

Time went on by

He learned how to fly

And then off he flew

In the sky

 

Now all I have to do

Is to keep a promise to you

To think of you each day

In the time that remains.

 

Time like sand

Sometimes more like a razor

To cut off a strand

Of something we love

 

Are we kidding ourselves

Do our loves really wait for us

At the end of our time

When our light grows dim?

 

Or is there some reality

Certainly not this one.

Where angels await us

Swimming in the light?

 

Or is it true

That the only thing waiting for us

Is a quiet shadow

That turns out the night.

 

It's all I can do

To soldier on through

Put one foot in front of the other

Til I can walk no more.

 

And when my labors are over

And the aches are too much

I lay myself down

And pray myself to sleep.

Christopher H. Holte

The poem contains an homage to Robert Frost and one of my favorite poems:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/42891