Liberal, Kansas

The First Shall be Last, and The Last First:
     Rivers begin in the mountains and end in the sea.
     Time begins in the mountains, and so do we.
     We flow downhill toward the shore,
     But those first few years are so much more
     Like scaling cliffs, enduring trips,
     Doing flips and suffering rips.
     Gradually though, does the river flow
     Onto the plain, where's there's much less pain.
     A straitening course for five decades full
     Of sunny days and downpours few,
     Of whirlpools here and rapids there,
     But love it all we do declare.
     And, then, the flow begins to slow;
     Those mountains seem so long ago.
     Our river, though, sustains the flow,
     But now meandering back and forth
     Until we see the delta's swarth,
     And then we know what lies ahead,
     Not alpha but a great big zed!
Written by Geographically Yours on the eve of New Year's Eve. It was a year that began in Burlington, Vermont, with a month of Zed-names and will end tomorrow in Fort Collins, Colorado, after a month of Alpha-names. Liberal Cemetery. [2018]