A Thousand Kisses Deep

The ponies run, the girls are young

The odds are there to beat

You win a while and then it's done

Your little winning streak

And summoned now to deal

With your invincible defeat

You live your life as if it's real

A thousand kisses deep

 

This (2001) poem by Leonard Cohen is about a man coming to terms with the impact of his life and the culmination of what it all means. 

 

When we’re young, and we’re making positive things happen, life is full of love, feelings of accomplishment, families, pride, maybe feelings of invincibility. 

 

But then we move over the arc of our lives; into the September of our years. Everyone who lives long enough will feel this common sense of time escaping from their life on earth. We become aware at some point that there are more years behind us than in front of us. In our reflections, we can’t but ask what we’ve accomplished, what we ever did that mattered, what our legacy will be. Did we lead our best life?

 

The years of our lives that we treasure the most are when our children were young, an abundance of love warmed the house, and the world was ours for the taking. The life we tend to see as our best life is a thousand kisses deep.