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Once We Were Heroes

Author: Roddie McKenzie

Once we were heroes.

Now our thoughts and schemes pass as electrons,

down a cable, coiled around the world,

like the Midgard serpent.

Once we were the Vikings on the block,

our antics, legendary as Valhalla.

Those deeds are frozen in celluloid,

negatives of the life we live now.

Age makes nostalgics of us all.

Belts slip another notch,

laughter lines become deltas.

And hair whitens, then disappears,

like Spring snow from the peak

of West Lomond.

In this dank December,

I turn pages, of these Kodak episodes

of my life.

Smile and sigh

in the leaden aftertaste,

as their diamond bullet clarity

bursts my heart.