Alice

In your ninety-third year of life you are crouched over the bones that have taken you across the world.
They have finally grown tired from all the lives you have saved and the hugs that you gave.
Teeth long lost, replaced with new; too perfect to be true.
Hair gone but once it was long
And though parts of you may be fading away, your beauty has never been forgotten.

Your eyes speak the stories of your youth, still so keen and clear - willing you to ask
Where have you been and what have you seen?
Your days have now become woven together,
Flowing without intermission -
No gaps, as you watch the fast world moving around your slow shifting body.

I met you in the street and you spoke of your life, your childhood; the splendor and the strife.
Dates rolled of your tongue as you have told your story more than once.
It is simply finding the ear willing to listen.
With all the time in the world and so many accounts to tell
You inspired a poem, with words that flow so well.

And here lies the issue of ignorance

Yes sometimes ignorance can be bliss
but how can we move forward with silly ideas such as this.
If we were ignorant our whole lives through
then the world wouldn't be the one you always knew.
In Kingston I was impressed with those protesting today
because they were sticking up for the word they needed to say.
You know, we are in a country where we have the power of speech,
the power of ideas and opinions, that capacity to beseech...
but somehow we become so lazy
so we care not if we are heard.
So people think they have little say
but if you looked into things, you might find that ideas will suddenly sway.
Start listening to the news or reading the paper
and you'll find you care, sooner or later.
Open your eyes, take a moment in time,
appreciate your power and please embrace our country in this telling hour.

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