Too soon gone, before we can realize their worth, are the glory days of our lives upon this old earth. Despite the willing spirit, still so eager to seek, our treacherous flesh betrays us, grows weak as eyes dim and knees creak under the steady accumulation of years and unrealized dreams; limitless tomorrow was only yesterday, it seems.

Now we are full of old slogans and wise quotes, trivia, and random lessons memorized by rote. Young folks, avid to learn, look to us with hope, expectant, open to the knowledge we possess; eager to discover how we were able to cope. We struggle to remember the shining phrases we rehearsed back in days of confident youth as we looked forward to life’s coming praises.

As usual, some of us succeeded brilliantly while most of us reached a comfortable level and rested, others never made it out of the valleys – beaten back, worn down, defeated, and ultimately bested by a life turned mundane and, they sighed wearily, too soon gone.

But what is the measure of success? Are teachers who mold and influence hundreds of young minds yet never stray far from the classroom of little note? All the great things we plan to do…the heroic scope of future deeds, transcendent and pure, begin as seeds planted and nourished by those mentors.

Their visions shine out from our eyes; our voices sing music they taught us to compose; we inscribe their poetry and prose, even as they mourn time too soon gone.

A man daydreams over the whimsical stories Gramps would spin to entertain them both. Memory kindles imagination which, in turn, blooms, and ramps up until an old lazy day tale becomes an enthralling epic. Time was not too soon gone at all, but maturation, a bridge lovingly extended between the generations.

A tale idly formed from old slogans and wise quotes, trivia and some random lessons memorized by rote, is absorbed by a receptive young mind and eventually transformed into a monumental saga for the ages.

It began as an inventive tale on a drowsy afternoon in the mind of a kindly old man, conjured up to amuse his grandson. It became a legend, culled from times that never went away, a heroic adventure that eventually spread to titillate the imaginations of millions.

An elderly gentleman erroneously supposed his time would be too soon gone, like summer's crickets from winter's lawns. Instead, the bright flame of his imagination has illuminated the minds of millions, living, indelibly, on and on...

© 6/15/2009 T.P. Woodfork