<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">Is This All There Is?</div><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">At age 71,</div><div class="default-style" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">reviews of past moments,</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">seem to be standard fare</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">lapsing back into thoughts</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">of past unexplored relationships</div><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">What if I had dated her?</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">the one in school who seemed so out of reach</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">leaning into a delicious forbidden nectar,</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">a goldenness that sang me awake</div><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">Yet was just out of reach in my</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">not-yet-ready for a prime development entrance</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">instead, a shroud, as familiar as my sunken states,</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">collapsed under the wavering of</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">white flags of surrender and</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">Ill-fitting shoes of shame</div><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">Such heights of golden-electricity were indeed mine</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">but I had not yet heard this song inside myself,</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">I only saw the precious values</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">as others sparked and bedazzled</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">to my waiting spectator-soul</div><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">Oh, if only then I had my tall spine,</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">my cloak and top hat</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">dancing my giddy, my mirth and my glee</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">out onto the polished wooden floor</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">in a body holding strength, virtue, compassion,</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">tenderness and yes, exuberance too,</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">I would have held</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class="">Lighting!</div><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- P. Gregory Guss</div></div></div></body></html>