ON EXPERIENCE

By Author Paul Hughes

“On Experience” is a guide for young people in particular to learn that experience is one of the world’s greatest, most reliable teachers.

ON EXPERIENCE

Old woman so old, so pale and so thin,

Where are you going? Where have you been?

I have been on a journey, a lifetime in length,

Where I am going depends on my strength,

My strength to choose wisely between evil and good,

To refrain when I ought, and proceed when I should.

But old woman so wise, so old and so pale,

Do you not know that surely your strength must fail?

I know it must fail, and expect that is shall,

But until it does I will manage quite well

If I draw from Experience, and pause when I must,

On Experience hard-earned I will place all my trust.

But old woman so placid, so wise and so old,

Surely survival demands that you take and you hold.

You are the Spirit of Youth, what you lack you must learn,

Your eyes which see little you must outwardly turn;

Your outlook so narrow you must broaden and fill,

You think not of gain thru’ experience, but I assure you, you will.

Old woman so patient, so placid and wise,

As you answer my questions the light fades from your eyes.

Young Spirit so blind, so strong yet so weak,

All your unspoken questions, the answers you must seek

To discover yourself, but you will need all your strength.

You have embarked on a journey, a lifetime in length.

© Paul Hughes