After the Party

The birthday’s done, the house is neat, 
The guests have gone, the music’s sweet 
But fades like laughter on the breeze, 
Now hushed beneath the swaying trees. 

At sixty-three, the years weigh light, 
No longer thrill at candles bright. 
Life’s road is rough, the path unclear - 
What waits ahead? A laugh? A tear? 

Yet still we stand, alive, unbowed, 
We dance-though slower now, and proud. 
We’ll join the next bright, fleeting spree, 
Just at our pace, more leisurely. 

The final song remains unsung, 
The last verse waits, unwound, unstrung. 
One more dance before the night - 
My heart still burns with love’s warm light. 

Strange are the times, strange are the faces, 
Plans turn to dust in shifting spaces. 
All that we know may twist, may bend - 
But what a ride! I’d live again. 

The years may pass, the world may spin, 
Yet love remains-let life begin. 
Though time is swift and days grow thin, 
The fire within will never dim.