In the Attic

Original (Corrected)

Lightning highlights dear memories
Overpowering my wan torch
Distracting my search for papers
For present day obligations
With a flood of hushed reflection
And warm longing for time slipped by
And rare opportunities seized
And missed opportunities fled.
But the rain rambles down the roof
Faintly insistent, incessant
In it' roguish admonition,
"Get back to work now, back to work"
And I sigh and resume my search.

Revised

In the Attic

Lightning sears remembrances
Into the coffers of my mind,
Overpowering my wan torch
And distracting the foraging
That brought me to this unswept space.

Heartbeats later I feel tremours
Through the soles of my slippered feet
As static crawls along my pores,
Bewildering my commitment
To present day obligations.

With a flood of hushed reflection
I strobe with the storm recalling
Tired and neglected memories
Surrounding me like the wreckage
From Autumn's furious tantrums.

It assaults, with good intention,
The steep banks of obligation
And purges secluded bulwarks
That separate what has elapsed
From that once believed predestined.

I find myself fiercely pining
And reaching into recesses
To dwell on opportunities
That I had seized and I had missed
Through every unspoilt intention.

The days snatched from tired drudgery
And shared with delighted children
And loves that I have set adrift
Through folly or inattention
And a thousand million actions.

But the rain rambles down the roof
Faintly insistent, incessant
In its roguish admonition,
"Get back to work now, back to work"
And I sigh and resume my toil.