A Short Day
There’s a shock in being old, not necessary in getting old, but all of a sudden being there, standing on a corner, and just becoming aware that you are old, that just a short while ago, you were thinking, maybe even saying “I’m getting there…I’m getting old (not older but old)…” where in essence, you’ve been there for awhile—some folks never stop kidding themselves, and say: “You got to think young, to be young” —be that as it may, but you are still old, like it or not. In my book, that’s called pretence, or kidding yourself. The positive part of this poem is this: you can say to the rest of the world: “Look here, I made it,” because most of the world today, will not make my age, they will die in wars, from disease, car accidents, hospital runs, and fighting, and house fires, and drowning, and farm accidents, and factory accidents, and plane crashes, and heart attacks, cancer, and alcoholism, and overdoses, and…and…you get the picture; in any case, if they make it to your age, that in itself is a great feat, because like it or not, we all have a short day coming, due us. Even Hemingway knew it, and Elvis knew it, and all those rich and famous people that lived before you and me, knew it, and those who will live after you, will be due it, due this short day also. And God said “Look, do you see anyone from…they’re all dead…!” He was telling somebody this to wake them up—time is short, like flicker in a fire. The question that comes up to me is this “What will I do tomorrow, if I still have a full day?”
No: 2716 ((6-9-2010) (prose mixed with poetry))
There’s a shock in being old, not necessary in getting old, but all of a sudden being there, standing on a corner, and just becoming aware that you are old, that just a short while ago, you were thinking, maybe even saying “I’m getting there…I’m getting old (not older but old)…” where in essence, you’ve been there for awhile—some folks never stop kidding themselves, and say: “You got to think young, to be young” —be that as it may, but you are still old, like it or not. In my book, that’s called pretence, or kidding yourself. The positive part of this poem is this: you can say to the rest of the world: “Look here, I made it,” because most of the world today, will not make my age, they will die in wars, from disease, car accidents, hospital runs, and fighting, and house fires, and drowning, and farm accidents, and factory accidents, and plane crashes, and heart attacks, cancer, and alcoholism, and overdoses, and…and…you get the picture; in any case, if they make it to your age, that in itself is a great feat, because like it or not, we all have a short day coming, due us. Even Hemingway knew it, and Elvis knew it, and all those rich and famous people that lived before you and me, knew it, and those who will live after you, will be due it, due this short day also. And God said “Look, do you see anyone from…they’re all dead…!” He was telling somebody this to wake them up—time is short, like flicker in a fire. The question that comes up to me is this “What will I do tomorrow, if I still have a full day?”
No: 2716 ((6-9-2010) (prose mixed with poetry))
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