FROM THE OLD/TO THE YOUNG

We are not flowers
                wilted and faded

We are not engines
                our internal parts worn and ground smooth

We are not ships
                run aground, stuck in the mire

We are not river beds
                stagnant and evaporating

We are proud strands of energy
                bound together by our humanity
                beacons of wisdom
                sharpened by experience

We may be lined and weathered
                but we have persevered
                like the mountains, surviving
                the ravages that only time can administer

So give us our due
acknowledge our victories
forgive us our sins

For one day you, too, will be mountains
upon which future generations
will scale to new heights