Such a radical in your youth, always set
on changing the world, you take a set
 

against those who cannot move with the times
and yet, with each passing year you become more set
 

in your ways, less able to keep up
with new developments, you have been set
 

in your place by the decay of a mind
running down, unable to learn, as if set
 

in a fixed state, wobbly and unreflective,
your brain warm milk allowed to ferment and set,
 

become curd, a grey pudding, a junket, a jelly
lacking substance, your table now set
 

with crockery, cutlery and glassware before the cloth
is pulled from underneath, the stage set
 

with the props and scenery for another performance
of sound and fury, signifying the set
 

of arctic winds, ferociously driving all before.
Grief will come to the clipper ship, sails set
 

for a fast passage between worlds, old and new,
and places in between, the universal set
 

for the writer who creates an empire of words
on which they hope the sun will never set.