Poem: Already The Ripening Barberries Are Red (Spoken Poetry) - Meryl Streep

Already the ripening barberries are red,

and the old asters hardly breathe in their beds.

Those who are not rich now as summer goes

will wait and wait and never be themselves.

Those who cannot quietly close their eyes,

certain that there is vision after vision

inside, simply waiting until nighttime

to rise all around them in the darkness

it’s all over for them, they feel old and tired.

Nothing else will come;

no more days will open,

and everything that does happen

will cheat them.

Even you, my God.

And you are like a stone

that draws them daily deeper into the depths.