Is a fortieth birthday a divide
like this mountain ridge here

where the landscape is the same
left and right, but the rain flows
to other seas?

Past here, future there
and the understanding
that what follows will be less

beautiful than you once thought
though this doesn't cause the founding
of a Party Against Sorrow

It's enough to not appropriate
worries, to be as cautious as a snake
and to look honestly in the mirror

That way, even after Halfway Station
you'll remain upright, like a tumbler