Settled

Fresh white paint, new sign, four blue letters
  New shutters, new dog, new baby
    Years stacking, seamlessly, one inside the other
      Fingers worn ’round, silver and gold, sometimes shine
        Dreams of lists, always another, don’t forget your lunch
          No time but memories, movies, anniversaries
            Adventures are small, on discs, online
               Settled, the goal, settled the life
          —  
But this pen cannot settle
   it rattles on this page
      this heart is still beating
         for dreams you don’t shape
           this mind cannot forget
              its promise to itself
                 these feet wander farther
                    than the path of someone else.

-A. Ault-