Ablation

Time temporal drips away like ice cream from a cone.
We cannot help its melting as it leaves us all alone.
Jackpots won, creative gains, come at last to naught.
We cannot leave this world of ours with anything we’ve got.
Every appetite assuaged ends finally in thirst.
We don’t determine the final act, no matter how rehearsed.
Though we avoid the truth of it, alas, all that I say
is truth regarding what life gives and what life takes away.

Once again, thanks to my sister Betty for these images of my
childhood. Without her, fewer memories would remain.

Prompt words today are temporal, creative, jackpot, thirst and help.