Steam Power – Written June 2025 (Aged 50)

Steam Power

I do feel old,
but old — what does that mean?
It’s the realisation
that the passage of my time
does not have one scene,
and that the passage
isn’t always undertaken
by a boat powered by steam.
It’s bumpy, varied,
and does not seem to add up.
A pint in a quart pot,
an empty spot,
full of something —
something which I do not understand.
Memories frayed
around their edges.
Experiences, intangible,
like melted snow.
That is why —
that is why
I do feel old.
I am now, at this age,
i am a body of work to review,
and just a body —
one, at least,
that certainly does not feel so new.
But I relax.
The aging process
is just an umbrella term.
Time moves forwards
in the same way
that experience
only partially learns.
I do feel old,
but old — what does that mean?
It’s the realisation
that the passage of my time
is not always powered by steam.

James Garratt – June 2025

More poems at:
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More about this blog, The Boy Behind the Glasses, here:
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/

More poems from 2025:
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-2025/