A modest life

[dukealien]

A modest life 

I have suffered, not greatly,
but modest little things
only. Not born during a raid,
orphaned at an early age,
nor grown to be cut down too soon,
but a life of a long afternoon,
at its end, tea in a set
laid out for friends not yet
fallen into a swoon,
and at night, a dog 
whose face is in the moon.

I would omit the article in "a long afternoon"
Lovely little poem, really precise

Agree wholeheartedly - holds up a mirror, it does.  Might consider changing one of the "a's" on that line to "the" or better.