Old Age by Bernard Pearson

Photograph by @jseigar

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OLD AGE

He readied himself

Once more for the lash

Of the world,

As he rose from

The basilica of his dreams.

The light of winter,

Bedeviled him,

Crushing the hope from

his day like the weight

Of Russian ice.

And yet he had to rise,

To pull his limbs out of bed,

Like an archaeological dig,

Searching for the past,

His past, when the world

Lay at his feet like a game

And his eyes dazzled the sun.

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Bernard Pearson's work appears in many publications, including; Aesthetica Magazine, The Edinburgh Review and Crossways. In 2017 a selection of his poetry ‘In Free Fall’ was published by Leaf by Leaf  Press. In 2019  he won second prize in The Aurora Prize for Writing for his poem Manor Farm.