Old age is not the face
but the content in cranial -space
When I am old and drenched in worlds of sadness,
And wear a lacy cap upon my head;
When, looking past the future's singing gladness,
I linger, wistful, in the years long dead.
When I am old, and young folk all about me,
Speak softly of religion, when they speak,
When parties are a grand success without me;
And when my laugh is fluttering and weak-
Will I then be content to raise my glances,
......
Almost withered, the lean, leafless flower
Smiles in half of twigless green
Like an aged woman
Banished from the heaven of beauty--
Smiling as a gesture to shower, in vain,
The sprinkles of youthfulness of expired skin,
Rusting in ageing bony pits
As if left in lurch like an exploded balloon!
......
In me is a little painted square
Bordered by old shops, with gaudy awnings.
And before the shops sit smoking, open-bloused old men,
Drinking sunlight.
The old men are my thoughts:
And I come to them each evening, in a creaking cart,
And quietly unload supplies.
We fill slim pipes and chat,
And inhale scents from pale flowers in the center of the square....
Strong men, tinkling women, and dripping, squealing children
......
Unvarnished and worn by age
see it slouch by the wall,
its silence sharper than the kitchen knives.
We rely on something or someone sturdy.
Facing the candlelight at meals, he holds her
to resist the decay of ashwood
until it breaks at its last supper.
He knows where the kindling goes.
......
On Growing Old (Apology to W.B. Yeats)
The very idea
of being old
is comforting
time for renouncing-
nothing weighty
anymore to hold-
past stories
......
A scowl...
With hands on face
We are marked,
Stalked… and prey
Ticking away in escape
It cannot be saved
Moments pass behind us
Now becomes then
......
With age I’ve grown tired,
weary but not insane.
My bones are rather achy,
but my heart is too humane.
At night my vision is blurry,
with pills I kill my pain.
My hearing aid does help,
for sound to reach my brain.
But offensive words do fall,
......
Unvarnished and worn by age
see it slouch by the wall,
its silence sharper than the kitchen knives.
We rely on something or someone sturdy.
Facing the candlelight at meals, he holds her
to resist the decay of ashwood
until it breaks at its last supper.
He knows where the kindling goes.
......
Though the day I had at it's fill
Only you the one come by my way
And rather the old friends did conceal
Behind curtain, on the day.
Later Sun rise, after all, on you
Half hidden from the shine I call
As the withered leaves by dew
Restore itself, next to fall.
......