Sunday, April 22, 2012
ANOTHER APRIL
What is this "growing old gracefully" shit?
Does it mean that you will not bitch
about aches and pains?
Does it mean that you will just smile
when all the young uppities call you "honey,"
when you'd really like to rap them about
the head and shoulders with your cane?
Does it mean that you will no longer be able
to hop on the table
at the dance
and drop your pants?
And if you did
would they all just snicker
instead of scream?
I like to think of grace
as maintaining my own pace.
Each morning the road is filled
with cars, trucks, motor homes, and bulldozers
gunning past me like I'm standing still
just because I'm doing only
five miles an hour over the speed limit.
If any of them had been on the Titanic,
they'd have learned to chill,
and immerse themselves in the journey,
cuz you're not always going to dig the destination
Another April has come and gone,
and I'm in less of a hurry
to get where I'm going--
more inclined to listen to music
instead of news--
so I'll take some time
to take the long way home,
and when I run out of road
I want the radio to be playing
this same silky sax
as I fade
into the topaz twilight.
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ReplyDeletenice...like the sound of the sax...and really like that bit about the titanic, as there is def truth in that...and any time you want to jump on the table, they will at some point just dismiss it for age but you know there are always those willing to watch...
ReplyDeleteTimateo, sorry for the deletion but after publishing I noticed many mistakes.
ReplyDeleteWhat I had stated was; that your well worded piece was a timely one and appropriately relatable to my April which happens to be my birthday month.
I celebrate not for the aging but because I still can and for my friends and family still existing in this mundane journey.
The aches and pains are very real for me inspite of some friends and acquaintances wondering why I'm still in pain even though I have two totally new prosthetic hips. Why is it that people don't realize that the pain has not been replaced by an absence of pain, just the mechanical appendages have been.
The doc wants to perform invasive surgery to my deteriorating lower back but I told him in the three languages that I'm familiar with what he can do with his scalpels. His pocket book was not too happy :-p
Anyway, I hope that when I ride into that road of no end the radio plays the music that I like. That of course is any and all music.
Gracias for sharing my aches
BRIAN,
ReplyDeleteThanks, man. I'm hiring myself out for table dancing, if anyone is interested!
NENE,
Thanks for your comment, and the personal insight you provided. Looks like my poem touched a nerve. (No pun intended.) I like your attitude with the doc. All they want to do is what they've been trained to do, and to them, that's the solution to everything. Most never look into the amazing power of the body to heal itself.
Many more happy Aprils ... hopefully ...
ReplyDeleteWell, dear Timoteo... the first line had me laughing, and the last crying a little. Thanks for the fun and the wise words in between.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing graceful about growing old is learning that one should only bitch when one can do it entertainingly. At least in public--I have an ongoing and continual bitch with the universe, but it doesn't really seem to be paying any attention. I love the traffic images here, the Titanic reference, and the eloquent final lines, especially. You're playing that JT song in my head with them, 'the secret of life is enjoying the passing of time..."
ReplyDeleteNice reflections...I specially like the middle part...You got the part correct....the secret to growing old is to enjoy the journey ~
ReplyDeleteOh you KNOW how much I relate to this poem. I so loved it. Especially the last five lines, lit by a topaz haze.
ReplyDeleteCAT,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the sentiment.
KERRY,
Very sweet and kind words!
HEDGEWITCH,
I'm sure that's the secret to bitching, (or anything)do it entertainingly!
HEAVEN,
Thanks...since there really is nothing else BUT the journey while we're here, we've got to learn to enjoy it.
SHERRY,
Thanks, dear one...I've been lit by a lot of other kinds of hazes at one time or another!!!
Your very welcome, T ... sending you sentimental purrs then ...
DeleteExcellent! That is exactly how I want to grow old, I will, as Dylan Thomas wrote, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light"
ReplyDeletereally fun. Love the tone throughout and a great sense of humor clearly shines through. The slow down and take it all in is such good advice too. I think we'd all be better off living in such a manner. Great read. Thanks
ReplyDeleteyeah, i really love this one... i hope the long way home is really damn long. because i want more of your words, and mostly, i really dislike sax solos :)
ReplyDeleteForget about the topaz twilight and growing old gracefully. Dance and drop your pants..you'll get away with it because they will think you've got dementia especially if they find out you're a poet...you may even get a few screams..but maybe not for the reasons you were hoping for:)
ReplyDeleteI loved this poem..it will make chortle all day long. Thanks.
i like the silky sax fading into the topaz sunlight, great image
ReplyDeletewealth of laughter senryu
i like it much...and when i run out of road..a silky sax playing would be my choice as well i think...oh...and i prefer music to the news as well..and always feel guilty..
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking dance and drop 'em to the sound of the sax in "On the Road Again". Some bare-ass grindin music right there, dude!
ReplyDeleteOf course, everybody's parts need to be serviceable.
Hilarious response LOL
DeleteExcellent write :)
ReplyDeleteMeasure,
ReplyDeleteEach song's tempo;
Youth keeps up with this beat;
In age we save each precious note;
Softly.
The Fountain of youth, over filled?
WEll, they say it is the cruelest month for a reason. I know I was being a bit sac religious, dying in the French sense of the petite morte by inches.... this is a wonderful, direct right. You have a gift for straight-forwardness...xxxj
ReplyDeleteSEMAPHORE, FRED, MARIAN, ZONGRIK, CLAUDIA, AYALA: Your sweet and kind words are much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteRALLENTANDA: Yeah, once they know you're a poet, all bets are off!
MARBLES: The parts need to be serviceable, because I am all about service!
MAGYAR: Nice one. I think of the fountain of youth as those little cherub statues who are peeing in the pool...who wants to drink that?
JEN: Ha ha...I wasn't sure how you would take those comments, but then, you are a trooper!
this is melancholic, but accepting...
ReplyDeleteit makes me ache a bit.
I'm 50 years old; in July I'll be hitting 51, but I don't think I'm old, though this rheumatoid arthritis tries to tell me otherwise and attempts to tell my body what to do. I laugh loud, sing soft and sometimes really hard and live every day with a smile and I chill with my friends or my young 18 year old niece. I've been told to start taking it easy, but I say if my bones are gonna hurt it's because I walked too much, jumped too hard or danced way too long. Forget the aging gracefully pooper scooper (excuse my mouth. LOL!), I'm going out kicking and screaming and I'm gonna go out a natural redhead...from a bottle!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading this; it was lots of fun. Be blessed.
http://elizena-lovingmycreator.blogspot.com/2012/04/sunlight-whispers.html
http://kickinitwiththekids.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/tweeting-hahahaha-whats-that-4/
ELIZENA,
ReplyDeleteHell, you're just hitting your stride!