a lifetime of lines

 

built to last a lifetime,
these power lines
sag and fray yet still
they hum, they carry on

you were just a young
boy then—did you ride
your bike beneath
their swaying shadows?

now your body tremors,
the signs of age
like rust collecting
in weathered joints

still, there’s a flicker
in your eyes, a small
bright stubborn spark
against goodbye

one day the circuitry
will fail, but your current
runs on, alive beyond
these wrinkled lines

​

© Sreedhari Desai