It Is Difficult To Be Old Poem by Shalom Freedman

It is difficult to be old
And strive to do something new
And not be able to do anything more
Than repeat
In a less powerful way
What one has done many times before

It is difficult to be old
And look at the blank page
And try to find a way of dreaming in it
And be unable to see anything more
Than one's own inner emptiness
And inability to do anything new anymore

It is difficult to be old
And to only know how to fail
In the same way
One has failed
So many times before