Stress has been his constant companion
lodestar of his neurotic universe
spanning his life from beginning to end
a rope bridge across a shark-filled ocean.
How he would sweat over school exams
then worry about his college degree
while fretting over his chosen career
and if ever he’d get that first promotion.
A steady girlfriend brought him no respite
only the fear she might not be Miss Right
marriage unleashing a new set of woes
with the bills and the thirty year mortgage
and whether they could afford two kids.
But even retirement gives him no joy
being as stressed as when he was a boy
his golden years yielding fresh anxieties
about his wealth lasting and his health.
Alas it is I trapped in this fraught world
and in this moment of contemplation
I ask myself what salvation there is
for such a man as me yet must conclude
my worries on this earth will never cease
and that death may be my only release