May 2: Aunt Leta

Aunt Leta

People collectively make up society,

And pass through their phases, each in its stage.

You’ve lived as you’ve lived in piety,

But you’ve finally reached the age

That whatever you’ve gained to keep or to show,

You can hardly use it, so you let it go.

You’ve appointed your favourite niece

To be the person in charge of your care.

All you want now is to live in peace.

You don’t make proposals or ask if it’s fair

That you’re no longer taken where you once liked to go,

And what she’s planning for you, you don’t want to know.

Your niece is putting your house up for sale,

And all your possessions must be passed along.

Got to pay what’s required as your health starts to fail.

Got to keep you safe, because you’re not that strong,

And from what you are losing, someone else is in luck.

He has hauled your belongings away in his truck.

(Chorus)

Some say reality is all in your mind.

Some say it’s only what you happen to find.

Some say you must grasp it or it leaves you behind.

I say, “Make the best of your bundle of clay,

Knowing that time will take it all away.”

When your husband died, you could hardly proceed.

Full of ideas, you missed some practical essentials.

You’d always  preferred to sit and read,

Just a book away from all of your potential!

It’s almost as if you’ve left to fate

What took you your life to accumulate,

Your books are a mirror of civilization.

Oh, but who takes the time to read any more?

Too many words!  Too much complication,

And what are you going to use it for?

Life is a treasure, and we take what we find,

And share what we can of what sticks to the mind.

Which is always more than anyone can carry,

Inevitably there is much that is lost.

If it’s only in storage, it’s as well as if it’s buried.

If it isn’t used, it’s eventually tossed. . .

You might find it again at a rummaging store,

Or collect the pieces washed up on the shore.

Chorus

Some say reality is all in your mind.

Some say it’s only what you happen to find.

Some say you must grasp it or it leaves you behind.

I say, “Make the best of your bundle of clay,

Knowing that time will take it all away.”