The Big ‘Oh!’s – 31st July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen 
Decades rush towards
an ever distant double-o.
Crossing off the milestones
one by one
we find less to celebrate.

And when lids finally close,
eyes open to a new world
with a big 'Oh!'
"That's what it all meant."

Destined to write poetry forever
next to Wilfred, Walt and William,
like old friends.

Written for dVerse – Launch and these thoughts came to me after reading Henry Rousseau’s tombstone epitaph, written by poet Guillaume Apollinaire:
“We salute you Gentle Rousseau you can hear us
Delaunay, his wife, Monsieur Queval and myself
Let our luggage pass duty free through the gates of heaven
We will bring you brushes, paints and canvas
That you may spend your sacred leisure in the
light and truth of painting
As you once did my portrait facing the stars, lion and the gypsy”

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Your Career Is Not A Life Sentence

Your work does not make you immune
From the end arriving soon

11 thoughts on “The Big ‘Oh!’s – 31st July 2026”

  4. How well you springboarded off the epitaph and into the big ‘oh!’s – I will hit my three score years and ten in August, so your poem resonated with me, Shaun. I love the thought of writing poetry ‘forever next to Wilfred, Walt and William, like old friends’.

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