Her eyes were reddened
By the burdens of time
Her sons becoming men
Her passions now routine
But dignity will never die
Inside a beautiful heart
Because the blood of her life
Has become a fountain of love

I really don't like the idea of growing old.
Don't patronize me with the alternative.
You know squat about that.
There's the smell of bleach and ****,
And the lingering odor of soiling
Up and down the corridor.
There's the swish of mops,
And night comes early.
You say you'll visit, but when? You're busy with life.
I won't be seen at gatherings,
Perhaps a visitation for old friends.
The world should spin counter-clockwise
Before expelling me in its daily gyration.
I want a giant to hold me again,
And tell me I'm a good boy for eating,
For crapping in the toilet.
Soon enough, but you don't dare say so aloud.

Did you close your eyes like I said
You won’t see anyone else
You won’t miss anyone else
This is moment where you begin

Remember how you felt as a kid
Everything is still inside you
The time is now for discovery
Like a child on Christmas morning

You just got here
You brought all your fears
You remember too much
The past only makes tears

You’re too beautiful to care about that
You’ve felt too much to hate like that
You’ve seen too much to pretend
You’ve loved too much to let it end

Don’t try to be old
Don’t try to be young
That’s not who you are
But you are going to care

You just left that place
You think there’s no other place
That’s not true that's not true
Unless you're too tired to dream

You just got here
You brought all your fears
You remember too much
The past only brings tears

I know you care
I know you’re there
Even if you don’t
Soon you will be
Standing alone
Is when life begins
For a human
Who finds itself

I hear your heavy breath as you lie next to me. You struggled not for the first time to get on the bed, which you know is by invitation only. In out, in out. The pattern is soothing yet it troubles me that your golden muzzle is turning silver. Snoring now, I smile as you fall deeper and deeper into puppy dreamland. Where do you go on these journeys? Back to playful puppyhood? Chasing the wind, nipping at wafting dandelion seeds? Am I with you in that moment? Throwing a stick for you, or rolling alongside you in the waving grass? You are a true and loyal friend. Our time is now, in the moment, and for every moment after. Even if I have to lift you onto the bed, which you know is by invitation only.

Come on up old pup.

I got a late call
Just the other day --
    Sister reluctant to say
  What she had to say.

Mama's not well
     She almost passed through
    The veil --
A life of hard work
    Can make any strong
Woman frail.

I'm not an old man
     But time isn't always kind --
Teenage children
Make youth that much harder
                      To find.

It doesn't seem so long ago
               When I was that
        Young and free --
My parents feeling like I do now
            When they'd look at me.

      She was always proud
Of the garden that she grew --
   Working with her hands
In everything she'd do.

But now her body can't
      Keep up with her mind
And father seeks for what
        They both cannot find.

        You're a child with
Parents all your own
Then it's your turn at the wheel
      When you are grown.

Then your children
See you old and frail --
Time goes by faster than
      You realise and you've
Passed through the veil.

I've always watched
      The Agèd Hands of Time
         Winding other lives down --
       They were not mine.

But now my past
    Is in the distance and my
Future is as close as my agèd
  Parents and my growing children
     In The Agèd Hands of Time.