SMALL MERCIES. By Bryn Fortey

“I’m grateful for small mercies,”

I said to Will Mayo

An American Facebook friend

I will never meet in person

“That’s what our lives are made of,”

He came back with

And he wasn’t wrong

Small mercies  

Tiny victories

Tiny losses

Will appears to lead

A solitary existence

With cat and books

Reading and writing

While trying to make sense

Of an unfathomable universe 

He seems quietly content

With this lifestyle

Whether forced or evolved

Accepting the limits

That human frailty

Places on us all

Entering now my eighth decade

Learning to cope

With failing bits and pieces

I laugh at both losses and victories

And gratefully accept small mercies

Friends and family help a lot

Bryn Fortey is a veteran writer from Wales in the UK. Widely published

over the years, he has had two collections published by The Alchemy 

Press, both featuring a mix of short stories and poetry. He is grateful that

in old age he is still able to put pen to paper and finger to keyboar