The Circuit

They come and they go, familiar
and unfamiliar, there is never a shortage
for those that go are invariably and
forever reproduced and they venture
forth in their white-haired frailty
creatures that were once vibrant and
convinced they were meant to exist
forevermore, in their youth exuberant
and triumphant as they took their place
within the multitudes of the young
who knew the world was there for
them to explore and to exploit, to enjoy
and to forge their life out of the endless
choices extended to them, the newly
entrenched of the species. Now in the
public sphere following a lifetime of
free choice squandering the years in
spontaneous role-playing they wander
about, their eyes glazed with wonder
and uncertainty, unsettled and confused
bemused and upset that their time is
drawing to the close they never imagined
would be theirs as it was their elders'.