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Position:Home>Poetry> Do you enjoy old age?Question: Do you enjoy old age!? I look in the mirror And I see an old man Bearded and wrinkled!. Where is the young man Who used to look back At me, has he gone!? Surely not, for it was Only yesterday; or so It seemed that he was There!. Oh he was As handsome as any Young man could be, With curly hair glistening With Brilcream and A smug satisfied look Upon his face!. A paper bag Containing his patent leather Dance shoes ready to be Slipped on when he Arrived at the sixpenny Hop held every Saturday Night at the community hall Now all that I see is Someone I do not Know!. Some-thing Which leans on the Hand basin hopping From foot to foot Because it needed to Go to the toilet!. He was handsome, once!. You would not believe It now, but he was!. He wore A blue pin stripe suit, a White shirt and a snazzy Tie tied in the new Windsor knot fashion!. His black shoes were Spit and polished* so That he could see his Face in them!. Now I think About it, I still spit and Polish my shoes, it is all I have carried over from Those far off days!. Yes the Memory is still there!. Now If I could only remember What I have to do now, oh Good Lord, wife hurry up I need to go!. Darn it, don’t Bother it’s to late!. Heck I Do dislike getting old!. *Spit and polish!. Learned while in the army So that you could have the toes of your boots With a mirror finish!. Place a soft cloth over the Fore finger, rub in the polish then rub in small Circles the toecap of your leather shoe or boot!. Every few circles spit on the toecap!. It will take About an hour to have both shining like mirrors Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Robert, you have evoked the signposts of a largely bygone era, and that is what makes your poem so touching -- you suggest that in some sense you are on your way to obsolescence as well, that you may be a passing sight!. This is one of the great commonalities of human experience!. We become aware of our mortality, sometimes are choked with contemplative yearning for lives unlived and potential selves lost, and begin to see that unfamiliar face staring back in the mirror!. Or we look at our hands and see that the skin has grown thin and crinkled!. There is gray, lots of gray, in the beard!. We notice we ache a little more and are stiffer when we arise in the morning!. What happened to the feeling of timelessness we had in our youth; now, the clock is ticking, loudly!.!.!. I would be a liar if I said I didn't think about these things!. I'm fortunate, I suppose, a mere lad of 53!. But one whose poetry always seems to come back to issues of loss, exile, and mortality, one whose heart is stirred when reading a poignant passage on the human experience of the passage of time!. When I teach, I can't help but think about what all of this will mean to my young students when this one day inevitably happens to them!. And yes, I worry about my own mother -- your age, Robert -- who cries perhaps too easily and thinks about all these things perhaps too often!. It is a very difficult thing for me to accept!. Me, I'm remarkably vigorous and strong for my age because I've always been very active -- weight training, bike racing, running, tennis hiking, etc!. -- but my mind, nonetheless, has become saturated in the sense that all of this, despite my constancy of effort, is meant to pass, that one day I too will see that old man in the mirror!. I like to think that time and nature have graciously compensated me with a greater wisdom and acceptance, but I am not so certain that this is so!.!.!. I am not certain of the prospects of that fellow in the mirror, the one that I paradoxically know better and better every year, yet am slowly less able to recognize!. For every thing there is a season!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Would you have been happier if you left this world while you where still young!? Then you wouldn't have seen what you see when you look in the mirror!. You have your life lets!. Lets not be vain!. Everyone ages and most important then fleshly preservation is spiritual purity!. Whenyou have spiritual purity you will be eternally young in the next world!. No worries!. Trust God!.Www@QuestionHome@Com This is marvelous as usual!. As I read it I had an interesting idea of making the stanzas that occur in present, longer and with a more subdued rhyme and the stanzas where you think to past could be short and snappy like you have in your poem!. It isof coursee just a suggestion, and it is perfect this way as well/ Www@QuestionHome@Com We lose our looks, vision, hearing, sex drive, memory and a zillion other things and all we get in return is "wisdom" I enjoyed youth much more too!. The worst thing is when you tell someone, "I've tried that and it doesn't work" and they try it anyway!. go figure!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Aging keeps nibbing away at the good stuff, other then that I accept aging, can't fight it, can't change it, When there is no physical pain, it is a good day!.Always welcome sleepy time!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I don't know weather people really enjoy old age !. I will prefer ding young rather than getting old !. It was really painful for me to see the way my grandma died !.Www@QuestionHome@Com it seems sir you have taken a trip to get inspiration to write epics kind of poetry ur just excellent sir i have rewritten poems 4 ur striking pen none can beat u u r par excellenceWww@QuestionHome@Com And you are a painter of images telling the story like it is!!! You are GOOD! I enjoy old age every chance I get!.!.!.when I'm not being young!.Www@QuestionHome@Com cool another poemWww@QuestionHome@Com Yep!.Www@QuestionHome@Com i will when i get there, i will always feel like i'm 23Www@QuestionHome@Com I enjoy "life" at any age!.Www@QuestionHome@Com You are Not 142!!!!!!! lier!!!!!!!!! Www@QuestionHome@Com cool poem!!Www@QuestionHome@Com huh!?Www@QuestionHome@Com I am enjoying my age!.!.!.uh-oh, wait a minute, I have to go pee!Www@QuestionHome@Com i enjoy old age!. i'm 142 and still living largeWww@QuestionHome@Com kinda biased but awesome poem none the less why are people so uneasy about getting old!? is it because you get one step closer to death!? ANYONE CAN DIE AT ANYTIME!. its actually better to die at an old age naturally then at a young age by a car !.!.!. Next time you think about getting old be happy!. be happy that everyday you are getting older!.!. and everyday you are staying aliveWww@QuestionHome@Com Getting old is not so bad when you consider the alternative!. Were your dances sixpence!? Mine cost two bits!. But often we had live bands that played Polkas and Waltzes!. I use cotton balls for a spit shine, and still tie a Windsor knot, But I can also tie a bow tie for more formal affairs I keep a jug handy instead of doing the P-P dance!. I know I came into this room for something, Where did I leave my glasses!?Www@QuestionHome@Com I try to every day--!.Better than the alternative--!.I too don't recognize the old lady looking back at me!.My avatar is a young me!.I like it that way!. In my heart I am about 43!.But then I look at the face in the mirror and I have earned those grey hairs, that wrinkled brow, the body that aches when I try to do too much!.This is what is called life!.As long as I wake up every morning I am going to make the best of the situation!.I'm living it to the best of my ability!.I've come for the ride--!.Ride em Cowboy!.-- I've only just begun--Www@QuestionHome@Com I used to worry about getting old, but I now see it as more of an adventure!. The freedom I feel now I would not trade!. And I don't wish to be 20 or even 30 again, though I wish my joints were! I don't feel old yet!.!.!.It is amazing to me how each generation makes these discoveries on their own! This is marvelous, and when I grow up I hope I write as well as you!Www@QuestionHome@Com |