David No More

This poem might be hard to understand so I hope this passage helps:

“No man’s life proceeds at an even tenor through the years. There will always be a time when he realizes himself most fully, feels most deeply, makes the greatest impression on others- and on himself. All that happens afterwards, however significant on the face of it, is most likely to be an abatement, the ebbing of that high tide. We never forget that time; we endlessly ring the changes on it. For some people it may even be their childhood, and they remain children all their lives. For others it is the time of first love, and it is they who have spread the myth that we love only once. There are those for whom the great time was when they were richest, most esteemed, most powerful; and they will still be mumbling without a tooth in their gums about their departed greatness. For Nerzhin the decisive period was prison.” –Aleksandr Solthenitsyn

The ending
is as joyless
as the start.

I see it now,
I see the finish line.

Looking back,
I see the dragons,
and the demons:
slain and vanquished.

Looking forward
breaks my heart.

No more triumphs,
No more epic battles,
No more David and Goliath,

Hope to God
that I am wrong.