Never let a Wrinkle have the Last Word

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

I was 70 on the last winter solstice, and more than one person has expressed well-meaning sympathy for my growing old. Well, I am happy enough...most of the time.

Yes, I get aches and pains in unexpected and often inconvenient places and, yes, my treatment for prostate cancer doesn’t exactly agree with me. Even so, whenever I start feeling sorry for myself, and lamenting my lost youth, I recall a lovely old lady in her 90s whom I used to visit when I was on the staff of a local Home Library Service. She was housebound, and suffered with severe arthritis, but had a smile for everyone. I asked her once how she coped with not being able to get out and about. "Oh, but I do," she said without hesitation. "I read, watch videos and TV, listen to the radio...and let my imagination take me places you cannot imagine. Yes, I miss walking, of course I do, and neither my eyesight or hearing are are too good these days, but imagination...well, that lasts forever just so long as we give it its head and don't let real life have its wicked way with us..."

Life is what we make it at any age.  We all want different things from life, and it is down to each and every one of us to get the most out of the time we have, on the best terms available to us, instead of constantly brooding on the worst.

Did I say it was easy?

NEVER LET A WRINKLE HAVE THE LAST WORD

Growing old can be scary,

but there’s not much we can do

about it…?

So shall we take the dog

for walkies, put the world to rights

with next door’s cat, indulge

in some chat TV, watch a DVD

and leave it at that?

Ah, but there’s more

to life than our practising

the art of killing time

even if time is no friend

(or real enemy either)

Oh, and I haven’t heard

from so-and-so for ages so time

to get in touch and find out

when we can meet up, catch up,

(maybe even make up?)

The grapevine has it

a new class is starting up;

Now, was it art, crafts

or yoga? No matter, time enough

to find out more

I’ve always wanted

to do things folks said I couldn’t,

see places they said

I really shouldn’t ‘at my age’

(Yes, even then...)

Although time does us

no favours (or is it vice-versa?)

we can put records straight,

marginalise wishful thinking

and regret

Time to wake up, get up,

make up for missed opportunities,

(at least in part) though aches,

pains, and all sorts may have lots

to say about that

Time to call on an old pal

(Will Power) to haul him out

of his comfy armchair

and make damn sure he’ll start

pulling his weight

If growing old can be scary,

there’s no end to what we can do

about it…

Copyright R. N. Taber 2013; 2016

A Growing Sense of Where Reason Fears to Tread

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

As I grow old (born 1945) I can’t help wondering if I may well have made fewer mistakes in life had I put more trust in heartfelt sensibilities and less in the (arguably) devious designs of reason.

Whatever, what is done is done and can never be undone although (sometimes) compensated for if only in part…provided we have (or can find) the heart for it.

A GROWING SENSE OF WHERE REASON FEARS TO TREAD

Days, weeks, years,

stretching across a wasteland

like a disused rail track

where ghosts play

at mind games to confuse us

about time lines

Time lines, in a haze

of remembrance playing fast

and loose with Memory

where conscience

pulls our strings and leads us

into shadowy places

In shadowy places,

wandering as lost and alone

as a child whose parent,

but for one awful moment 

in time let fall the clinging hand

into unbearable space

An awful vacuum

this freedom once longed for

with, oh, such passion,

meant to fire the flames 

of ambition, not made scapegoat

for an untimely burn out

Responsibility, moral

obligations where bucks stop

at a scary self-searching

where none so blind as dare 

not see block any home truths

demanding a voice

Home truths, eroding

comfort zones, pulling rugs

from under feet bent

on standing up to be seen 

scoring points over alternatives

and so-called 'betters'

Alternatives, for better

or worse, we’ll never know

unless given a voice, 

allowed to speak, make a case

for setting mind-body-spirit free

from dogma's chains

Mind, body, human spirit

stretching across a wasteland

like a disused rail track

where ghosts play football 

with 'live' heads, scoring off-side

more often than not

Copyright R. N. Taber 2016, 2019