When one has reached the age of eighty-five

When one has reached the age of eighty-five,
And years, like mountains crossed, are soft with haze,
It is a triumph simply to survive.

One is where few have managed to arrive,
Where consciousness alone is cause for praise,
When one has reached the age of eighty-five.

And when one can do more than be alive,
Can cope, can comprehend, can turn a phrase,
It's still a triumph simply to survive,

To breathe, to be satiate, to desire, to derive
Solace from the lingering ends of days.
When one has reached the age of eighty-five,

And memories of infancy revive,
And faces long forgotten meet one's gaze,
It is a triumph simply to survive,

To hold together this one world, to strive
To keep what life inevitably betrays.
When one has reached the age of eighty-five,
It is a triumph simply to survive.

---Nicholas Gordon