Poem, "How long will it take"

How long will it take


until our smiles are permanent?

Will laugh lines ever

outweigh wrinkled brows?



I want to roll

on the lawn

with my cat

in the Sun...

Be alive,

have fun,

be free,

be ME.



I want the warm light

to fill me up

and have the soft wind

blow in my ear

like a lover...



But my moods

come like the tides,

high and low.

And tears,

like salt spray,

lie mingled

in my eyes.



How long will it take

Until our smiles

are permanent?



-Paul Humphrey