POEM DEDICATED TO A FEMALE RELATIVE
ON HER 80th BIRTHDAY


The years have come and gone

intertwined with joy and sorrow

still upon us the sun benignly shone

we'll not despair of the morrow.



Life is the eternal river

its waters they ceaselessly flow

faith shall guide us in every weather

tireless never is its glow.



Love ripens in its blossoming

it will never ever go old

its sweetest hours are beckoning

to warm us even in the bitterest cold.



Our youthful days we'll still savour

even as dusk sheds its grim shadow

time rushes on but we'll remember

our past splendour and hope for blessedness to follow.