Reassurances of Validity

It was a mere 36 years ago
that my mind could take text from a book
and convert it into a superb passing score on a test.
Now the word I looked up five minutes ago
is already forgotten.

Today -- stretching my hamstrings
and struggling to touch my toes --
I remember squatting up and down
at Gold's Gym with 405 pounds on my back --
the mitochondria in my thighs like nuclear reactors.
That was the summer of 1987 --
a mere 33 years ago.

I like to leave the mind and body of today
and go to those better places back there
in the wake of this wasted life.
Of course there are things in the present
that need my full attention --
a floor that needs mopped --
dishes that need washed --
laundry that needs folded.
Certainly some spiritualist would tell me
that these mundane tasks are
beautiful and life-fulfilling.

But those important things that I could accomplish
in yesteryear didn't need reassurances of validity
like the trivial things I'm limited to today.

There's no doubt that there will be
a day in the near or distant future
when I'll look back on the accomplishment
of trivial things with wistful nostalgia too.