Who died yesterday at the age of seventeen
Of complications from Progeria

“Be O.K. with what you can’t do, because there is so much you can do.”

I watch on YouTube the young man who looks something like an old man
He does not want to be pitied
He explains his way in Happiness

Humbled I think that there are so many things
I an old man still have
That he will never have

Sorrow comes
I am ashamed of myself

He lived such a short life
And with so many difficulties

I will try in the future to focus less
On all I have not done and probably can never do

Life and disease are merciless
The young man is gone

I am an old man still alive
I still can write a poem for myself
And for the memory of another
Of the many teachers
I have had in the wisdom of life
I am not sure I have been able to learn from.

Shalom Freedman

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-lesson-from-sam-berns-of-blessed-memory/