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"codger" poems
I know from my past, gym class From locker rooms, I learned fast That lots of guys have winners But my sausage is from Vienna. I got a little bump, a tiny little lump, Like a hamster has taken a dump. Nothing bulges my shorts at the crotch. Not much there for anyone to watch. But our society puts the emphasis On just how big your business is. If you have a tiny peter, my friend Many kinds of applause will end. Go read the writing on the walls, Because you will inherit the catcalls And no matter how much you moan They come through no fault of your own. Regarded as less than a man; sick Or perverted to have a small **** As too often I have been told Since as a kid and not very old Amid laughter and cruel jests I have learned a big **** is best. No matter it’s something I can’t change, Apparently a small ***** is strange. In time I left behind those taunts As I left behind adolescent haunts. The pain has become only a taint; The scars of bullies with no restraint, But I am sure I never will fully be Free of their thoughtless bigotry As I reach the age of an old codger Dealing with life with a not so jolly roger.
0
Oct 3, 2015
Oct 3, 2015 at 10:11 PM UTC
***** ENVY
Fresh innocence, Power aflower, Baby experience Your first hour. Unaware, curious, Shine 'n shower, Child experience Your second hour. Optimistic, Visionary mystic, Youth experience Your third hour. Tired 'n bitter, Lemon-sour, Man experience Your fourth hour. Body bent o'er, Spirit aflutter, Codger experience Your fifth hour.
0
Oct 8, 2018
Oct 8, 2018 at 8:54 AM UTC
Five Hours
I feel like a small frightened child, one who has become lost in the deep dark woods of every child’s nightmares, cold, alone, well past “losing one’s cool” and just precious inches away from “flipping one’s **** the only things that I possess a flashlight that I cannot figure out how to switch on, a compass that only points backwards and a magical, wish granting genie that only speaks in a language that I have never heard and therefor do not understand while at the same time am not understood, whose only option to improve his situation is to sit in one spot and wait for help to arrive but what if it doesn’t so I am forced to action to fashion crude tools and build a shelter and hunt and cook and survive because no one is going to find me and I am not going to find my way out, so I must live in the forest of nightmares and darkness... ...and then I begin to wonder if that small child is not a child at all, but an aging man in a worn bathrobe, alone in a darkened room in an asylum, sitting under a table with a bed sheet hanging over the sides like a makeshift tent, trying desperately to find the “ON” button of an empty pill bottle while I wait for a wound out, wind up clock to find North during the stock market numbers on the local Hispanic radio station, forever stuck in the nightmare forest created by his own mind, which is somehow less terrifying than the reality of his unreality... ...because it is beginning to become very muddled in both of those places and I am beginning to lose track of his self so here looks like a good place to sit down and wait for help to not arrive and over there a good spot to build a temporary cemetery plot to rest my weary hours and while away the bones because unless I figure out a way to sort his self out, I will forget to send for help that I am tired of waiting for and the seconds in the dark that were not there a moment ago and may not be here now will be gone forever when the clock strikes South-East and I am left alone again with only a snot nosed codger and a loony old brat, looking out a window that directly faces a brick wall, watching and praying for the sun to rise on its horizon.
0
Jul 17, 2013
Jul 17, 2013 at 5:35 AM UTC
Am I Rambling Again?
I feel like a small frightened child, one who has become lost in the deep dark woods of every child’s nightmares, cold, alone, well past “losing one’s cool” and just precious inches away from “flipping one’s **** the only things that I possess a flashlight that I cannot figure out how to switch on, a compass that only points backwards and a magical, wish granting genie that only speaks in a language that I have never heard and therefor do not understand while at the same time am not understood, whose only option to improve his situation is to sit in one spot and wait for help to arrive but what if it doesn’t so I am forced to action to fashion crude tools and build a shelter and hunt and cook and survive because no one is going to find me and I am not going to find my way out, so I must live in the forest of nightmares and darkness... ...and then I begin to wonder if that small child is not a child at all, but an aging man in a worn bathrobe, alone in a darkened room in an asylum, sitting under a table with a bed sheet hanging over the sides like a makeshift tent, trying desperately to find the “ON” button of an empty pill bottle while I wait for a wound out, wind up clock to find North during the stock market numbers on the local Hispanic radio station, forever stuck in the nightmare forest created by his own mind, which is somehow less terrifying than the reality of his unreality... ...because it is beginning to become very muddled in both of those places and I am beginning to lose track of his self so here looks like a good place to sit down and wait for help to not arrive and over there a good spot to build a temporary cemetery plot to rest my weary hours and while away the bones because unless I figure out a way to sort his self out, I will forget to send for help that I am tired of waiting for and the seconds in the dark that were not there a moment ago and may not be here now will be gone forever when the clock strikes South-East and I am left alone again with only a snot nosed codger and a loony old brat, looking out a window that directly faces a brick wall, watching and praying for the sun to rise on its horizon.
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3
The city tosses, turns, and finally rises, Surrendering to daylight and giving itself over to the bustling movements of its citizens. At the crosswalk, an old codger in rags holds a panhandling sign, And nearby a bearded hippy plays guitar. The sound of beggars, musicians, bored businessmen, And all the teaming masses drift through back alleys, And float through the air like the heady perfume of car exhaust. Each street, each block, each break in the never-ending flow of man’s own personal jungle. Brings to mind stepping into a whole other world. Here, in one such strange nexus, a building likened to a castle, Stares across a narrow stretch of road at an abandoned building, Cracked broken and peeling, tattooed with graffiti from a hundred vagabond artists. It conjoins directly to a new building, the fresh, well maintained walls of which offer striking contrast. The confused, confounding nature of the true jungle is in this manmade facsimile More well reflected than anywhere else in the world. The muggy air rings with life, the heat is stifling, And for all that it has a strong allure. This city, and all cities. For in every corner, at every street, life bleeds from a city. It grows from the crack like a flowering **** And in truth, Is a flower born in the streets of a city, atop the stem of a dandelion Any less a flower than a rose from the heart in the woodland? To me, that a flower could be so brazen, so proudly out of place, Makes it all the more a thing of beauty.
0
Sep 3, 2013
Sep 3, 2013 at 1:08 AM UTC
Concrete jungle
The city tosses, turns, and finally rises, Surrendering to daylight and giving itself over to the bustling movements of its citizens. At the crosswalk, an old codger in rags holds a panhandling sign, And nearby a bearded hippy plays guitar. The sound of beggars, musicians, bored businessmen, And all the teaming masses drift through back alleys, And float through the air like the heady perfume of car exhaust. Each street, each block, each break in the never-ending flow of man’s own personal jungle. Brings to mind stepping into a whole other world. Here, in one such strange nexus, a building likened to a castle, Stares across a narrow stretch of road at an abandoned building, Cracked broken and peeling, tattooed with graffiti from a hundred vagabond artists. It conjoins directly to a new building, the fresh, well maintained walls of which offer striking contrast. The confused, confounding nature of the true jungle is in this manmade facsimile More well reflected than anywhere else in the world. The muggy air rings with life, the heat is stifling, And for all that it has a strong allure. This city, and all cities. For in every corner, at every street, life bleeds from a city. It grows from the crack like a flowering **** And in truth, Is a flower born in the streets of a city, atop the stem of a dandelion Any less a flower than a rose from the heart in the woodland? To me, that a flower could be so brazen, so proudly out of place, Makes it all the more a thing of beauty.
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27
I’d jump at the chance to ride shotgun on Henry’s medicine wagon rolling from city to village hawking 'Stickin’ Salve' and 'Oil of Gladness'. We’d ride into Elmira’s County Fair and set up over by the lake. I’d fix old Diamond a pail of oats and draw her a bucket of water. while great, great grandpa squeezed on his Union coat and arranged his potions on the shelves. Henry’s voice would boom across the water like a megaphone and people would gather close - lured in by the old codger's hypnotic banter of miracle cures - and perilous Civil War battles.    He’d swear on his mother’s lumbago that 'Stickin’ Salve' works just as fine as the lead and powder he’d fired at Cedar Mountain. The folks would shake with mirth whenever he bellowed, “I’m Henry Howard from Bunker Hill - Never worked and never will." Women would tug their husband's sleeves and they’d bring me pennies and dimes. After dusk we’d tally the coins and latch down the wagon for the night then sleep side by side on the grass beneath the New England stars. At sunrise I'd wipe his brow - to ease him gently back from the thunder of enemy shells still firing in his restless sleep. We'd cook up some bacon and biscuits, hitch Diamond up to the wagon then head south through the rolling hills along the Tioga valley. We’d breathe in the fresh country air and tip our caps to the farmers. If Henry would come to tap my shoulder some promising morning in spring and whisper "the wagon's hitched outside," I’d go in a Tioga minute. December,  2006
0
Aug 3, 2013
Aug 3, 2013 at 6:13 PM UTC
Medicine Wagon
I’d jump at the chance to ride shotgun on Henry’s medicine wagon rolling from city to village hawking 'Stickin’ Salve' and 'Oil of Gladness'. We’d ride into Elmira’s County Fair and set up over by the lake. I’d fix old Diamond a pail of oats and draw her a bucket of water. while great, great grandpa squeezed on his Union coat and arranged his potions on the shelves. Henry’s voice would boom across the water like a megaphone and people would gather close - lured in by the old codger's hypnotic banter of miracle cures - and perilous Civil War battles.    He’d swear on his mother’s lumbago that 'Stickin’ Salve' works just as fine as the lead and powder he’d fired at Cedar Mountain. The folks would shake with mirth whenever he bellowed, “I’m Henry Howard from Bunker Hill - Never worked and never will." Women would tug their husband's sleeves and they’d bring me pennies and dimes. After dusk we’d tally the coins and latch down the wagon for the night then sleep side by side on the grass beneath the New England stars. At sunrise I'd wipe his brow - to ease him gently back from the thunder of enemy shells still firing in his restless sleep. We'd cook up some bacon and biscuits, hitch Diamond up to the wagon then head south through the rolling hills along the Tioga valley. We’d breathe in the fresh country air and tip our caps to the farmers. If Henry would come to tap my shoulder some promising morning in spring and whisper "the wagon's hitched outside," I’d go in a Tioga minute. December,  2006
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46
Said the Codger in the corner Of the pub at Avonlea “There’s a missus, who I’d kisses If she’d sit upon me knee”. “But I’m eighty, like me matey And I’m too inclined to *** So I’ll leave her to another And keep my faithful Tennessee!” Said the barman to the Codger “Well you see here my old friend! You’ve been sitting in the corner Since ya leg would no more bend”. “You’ve been drinkin all me whisky Yep your love from Tennessee! Don’t ya know ya have a misses And she’s looking out for ye.” Said the Codger to the barman “Mate now you just let me be I’ve paid ya all good money For me love from Tennessee!”. “And me misses whom I kisses Who is waiting home for me Is all weathered, worn and weary And she naggeth poor old me.” Said the lady at the counter Who’d not sit upon his knee. “Mister if you loved and kissed her She’d no longer naggeth ye!” Said the Codger to the lady “Well Ok! Now let me see I’d go home to see me misses But will not leave my Tennessee!”
0
Oct 21, 2009
Oct 21, 2009 at 1:00 AM UTC
The pub from Avonlea
A bored old codger from the East One day ate a barrel of yeast He began to perspire The prelude to expire But he rose quite well, at least!
0
Feb 15, 2012
Feb 15, 2012 at 4:45 PM UTC
A bored old codger from the East
I'm a graying aged gunfighter Time to get out of the game I can not see to shoot my gun I can not see to aim I used to be the best there was The top of every list Now I can't hit a **** barn door I shot at one and missed I could out draw anyone Who faced me on the street Now, I'm more than likely To put a bullet 'tween my feet I play a little poker now Spend my days just passing time I break even mostly The way I play, well, that's a crime No one round here knows me They don't know about my past To them I'm just a codger I don't do one **** thing fast I noticed things were changing Ten years back I'd say I had a gun fight in Dodge City And it didn't go my way I threw down with some punk kid He was drunk and really ****** I got my gun stuck in my holster He fell down, he shot, he missed I walked to him now laying In the street, out cold, not dead I took his gun and holster And then went home to bed A gunfighter of substance Would have killed me where I stood Was I lucky he was drunk then? Or was I losing it for good? I packed my stuff up in the morning I left the town later that night The next fighter might be sober And I'd not survive that fight I took off for the desert Made plans just where I would go A state where I could hide out Where my past, no one would know On the way I stopped and practiced Shot some cactus and some trees I was shooting though at rabbits I can't survive here eating these One day, a rogue coyote Came and took me by surprise I shot a tree, it fell on him I aimed between his eyes The sooner I got settled The safer I would feel Too much longer in the desert I'd end up some varmints tasty meal I rode on in to where I am I can't tell you just what town I've got to keep it secret Or I may just get shot down I have a small room at the hotel I play cards to pay the rent I speak with a slightly muddled accent I try to be a southern gent I've been here now for near six months The town is growing fast So, my time here might be cut short With the future, comes my past For now I just play poker An old gunfighter at heart One day I know they'll find me I'll go to boot hill in a cart I'm an aged old gunfighter There's not many still around I'm hiding now from my last gunfight That will put me six feet in the ground.
0
Jan 5, 2020
Jan 5, 2020 at 10:07 PM UTC
gunfighter
I'm a graying aged gunfighter Time to get out of the game I can not see to shoot my gun I can not see to aim I used to be the best there was The top of every list Now I can't hit a **** barn door I shot at one and missed I could out draw anyone Who faced me on the street Now, I'm more than likely To put a bullet 'tween my feet I play a little poker now Spend my days just passing time I break even mostly The way I play, well, that's a crime No one round here knows me They don't know about my past To them I'm just a codger I don't do one **** thing fast I noticed things were changing Ten years back I'd say I had a gun fight in Dodge City And it didn't go my way I threw down with some punk kid He was drunk and really ****** I got my gun stuck in my holster He fell down, he shot, he missed I walked to him now laying In the street, out cold, not dead I took his gun and holster And then went home to bed A gunfighter of substance Would have killed me where I stood Was I lucky he was drunk then? Or was I losing it for good? I packed my stuff up in the morning I left the town later that night The next fighter might be sober And I'd not survive that fight I took off for the desert Made plans just where I would go A state where I could hide out Where my past, no one would know On the way I stopped and practiced Shot some cactus and some trees I was shooting though at rabbits I can't survive here eating these One day, a rogue coyote Came and took me by surprise I shot a tree, it fell on him I aimed between his eyes The sooner I got settled The safer I would feel Too much longer in the desert I'd end up some varmints tasty meal I rode on in to where I am I can't tell you just what town I've got to keep it secret Or I may just get shot down I have a small room at the hotel I play cards to pay the rent I speak with a slightly muddled accent I try to be a southern gent I've been here now for near six months The town is growing fast So, my time here might be cut short With the future, comes my past For now I just play poker An old gunfighter at heart One day I know they'll find me I'll go to boot hill in a cart I'm an aged old gunfighter There's not many still around I'm hiding now from my last gunfight That will put me six feet in the ground.
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76
You understand what suits you, Choosing from tailors present or past, Preferring not the uniform. Whose robes to **** this trip? Adding their layers to the shadow below. Fashion a style, accordingly- Another fearless, determined Oxford man In a pink suit. Style a fashion, apathetically- A filthy, disheveled codger, trudging From one unmanageable apartment to another, Writing music in his mind, never hearing it, Changing the world forever. Or, Owning only a pair of each- Black shoes, tights, and tops, And seventeen brightly colored scarves, Wear your heart on your sleeve. The most priceless accessory for spending Retirement in Somalia with the children. Being choosy in dress and shadows, Remember seasons None too original, Choose fear or love. Suit yourself.
0
Sep 2, 2013
Sep 2, 2013 at 11:49 PM UTC
You understand what suits you
The old priest sat in the dark of the confessional. A girl had entered on the other side and knelt. A rustle of clothing, breathing, a cough. He was prepared for the list of sins, the the soft voice verbal sprouting, the usual schoolgirl misdemeanours. Yes my child? He said. Mary on the other side stared at the grille, tried to make out which was the priest. Bless me Father she began, then the list ran. The priest placed his hands over his ears. The list was long, indelicate, touching on the obscene. He fumbled with his beads, tried to make out the voice, the owner, which girl? He thought, peering into the grille, his eyes searching through the semi dark. Mary pushed her knees together; she sensed the need to *** She knelt holding herself in, pushed her hands between thighs. How long was the old codger going to be? She mused. The priest coughed. Sniffed, tried to discover the scent. He said the usual words, about trying to avoid the occasion of sin, have faith, and so forth uttered in a strained voice. He peered hard. The outlined figure fidgeted, moved from side to side. Never in his born days had he. He uttered the absolution, made a sign of the cross. Then she was gone. The light there then not there. A smell of sin? What was it? No, not *****
0
Nov 18, 2012
Nov 18, 2012 at 4:38 AM UTC
MARY AND THE OLD PRIEST.
Martha had this thing about the Crucified. The image, the cross, the stretched out arms. The one in the convent school along by the chapel always caught her eye. Stood there staring. Get a move on Martha, the nun said. Don’t gape so. Or the image in the dining room stuck up on the wall above the abbess’s table. Painted on she thought. Not the same. Her mother had the one her mother gave her on her deathbed. Old wood and plaster. The plaster peeling from the hands of the Crucified. Martha gaped at Him, at His wounds, at the wound in His side where the spear went in. Forgive them for they know not. They did so, the ******** she muttered, putting her fingers on the wound in the side. She had an ebony rosary in her skirt pocket. Black Christ on the small ebony cross. She fingered in her pocket, said the prayers, felt the stiff body on the cross. Sometimes she took it out and kissed it; the ebony body, the head, the arms. Once she had a cross around her neck, silver, small, given by some old codger. She felt it warm between her small ******* Lost it when she took it off to wash and it slipped down the plughole in the convent bog. She knew her mother had this wooden crucifix on her chest of drawers. A dark wood, a fleshy plastered Christ, nails through and hands and feet. She kissed the hands when her mother was out, her lips touching the smooth plaster, the eyes closed, the feel of smoothness on flesh. Not the real Christ of course. Least not yet. She’d wait her turn. The real thing. See what death and Heaven bring.
0
Nov 16, 2012
Nov 16, 2012 at 7:44 AM UTC
MARTHA'S CRUCIFIED.
Martha had this thing about the Crucified. The image, the cross, the stretched out arms. The one in the convent school along by the chapel always caught her eye. Stood there staring. Get a move on Martha, the nun said. Don’t gape so. Or the image in the dining room stuck up on the wall above the abbess’s table. Painted on she thought. Not the same. Her mother had the one her mother gave her on her deathbed. Old wood and plaster. The plaster peeling from the hands of the Crucified. Martha gaped at Him, at His wounds, at the wound in His side where the spear went in. Forgive them for they know not. They did so, the ******** she muttered, putting her fingers on the wound in the side. She had an ebony rosary in her skirt pocket. Black Christ on the small ebony cross. She fingered in her pocket, said the prayers, felt the stiff body on the cross. Sometimes she took it out and kissed it; the ebony body, the head, the arms. Once she had a cross around her neck, silver, small, given by some old codger. She felt it warm between her small ******* Lost it when she took it off to wash and it slipped down the plughole in the convent bog. She knew her mother had this wooden crucifix on her chest of drawers. A dark wood, a fleshy plastered Christ, nails through and hands and feet. She kissed the hands when her mother was out, her lips touching the smooth plaster, the eyes closed, the feel of smoothness on flesh. Not the real Christ of course. Least not yet. She’d wait her turn. The real thing. See what death and Heaven bring.
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52
Wanna see how empty I can get. I can leak out all feeling. No nerves left. I taste and stiff every person I see. I cringe crunch the cartilage of every baby I meet. Heartless and artless old codger. No posture. Cramming damming the spam filled sandwich, of ancient architects. The tall statue of an empty shell, old malt glass, unfilled. Spewed upon the face of mother earth leaving acid mildew. Shower of rain with a pH of less than 7, maybe to the negatives, raising havoc on the crop lands. If my plants would be watered. I would whole. I could stand upon the ground lain staked like a scarecrow. I wish the emptiness protected all that I loved. I could forever be the watering can providing my molecules with spirits' Dust. The aluminum in my body. Will calcify or solidify (whichever's easiest) Spontaneously, to create the fluids of osmosifiying mechanical dilution, Into greater things.
0
Apr 15, 2013
Apr 15, 2013 at 1:22 AM UTC
Spout Trickling, Ever Onward
Martha Maguire sits in the back pew of the church cigarette between fingers, smoke drifting slowly to the high beams and tiled roof, her blue eyes focusing on the Crucified His arms stretched wide His head lowered His eyes shut the skimpy cloth about His midriff nails in hands and feet and wound in the side a slit of red paint revealed,   she takes a drag on the cigarette, inhales deeply holds the cigarette just away from her lips and with no effort releases the smoke in a steady stream over the pew in front, the Crucified's skin has a yellowy sheen to it, the crown of thorns have acquired cobwebs and dust, only her in the church silence except for distant traffic, Magdalene had talked of the priest and one of the nuns and some kind of thing going on, Martha muses watching the smoke rise, the young priest not the old codger, which nun was it? not St Agnes that's for sure she'd only *** out of her thingamajig, as would most of the sisters no doubt, Sister Lucy was it? maybe can't recall the gossip, she inhales deeply again scratches an itch on her thigh, Mary Moran and her ways with the boys and she only fourteen too as am I, she smiles recalling what Mary said of Brian Brady and what he tried to do put your hand in some other girl's private place not mine she said she said, the Crucified hangs in silence not a word not a judgement, some days she's sure His head lifts and He gazes at her with an awkward smile, His eyes half open the **** thorns pushing His hair over His eyes, the door at the far end opens and the young priest enters in his black garb like a young rook on the prowl, he genuflects and makes the sign of the cross, then peers down towards Martha who hides her cigarette out of sight, the smoke drifting less so but under the lower pews, he looks away goes to the altar fiddles with things goes to the tabernacle and opens the door and fiddles inside, she looks at her cigarette, lowers her head and takes a swift inhalation, then sits back up gazes at the priest **** arsing about, the cigarette between fingers out of sight, and she thinking if it was the priest and Sister Luke and the carrying ons and what and where if so, anyway she muses letting the smoke drift from her lips what do they know?
0
Jan 1, 2016
Jan 1, 2016 at 4:21 AM UTC
MARTHA MAGUIRE'S SMOKE 1963.
Martha Maguire sits in the back pew of the church cigarette between fingers, smoke drifting slowly to the high beams and tiled roof, her blue eyes focusing on the Crucified His arms stretched wide His head lowered His eyes shut the skimpy cloth about His midriff nails in hands and feet and wound in the side a slit of red paint revealed,   she takes a drag on the cigarette, inhales deeply holds the cigarette just away from her lips and with no effort releases the smoke in a steady stream over the pew in front, the Crucified's skin has a yellowy sheen to it, the crown of thorns have acquired cobwebs and dust, only her in the church silence except for distant traffic, Magdalene had talked of the priest and one of the nuns and some kind of thing going on, Martha muses watching the smoke rise, the young priest not the old codger, which nun was it? not St Agnes that's for sure she'd only *** out of her thingamajig, as would most of the sisters no doubt, Sister Lucy was it? maybe can't recall the gossip, she inhales deeply again scratches an itch on her thigh, Mary Moran and her ways with the boys and she only fourteen too as am I, she smiles recalling what Mary said of Brian Brady and what he tried to do put your hand in some other girl's private place not mine she said she said, the Crucified hangs in silence not a word not a judgement, some days she's sure His head lifts and He gazes at her with an awkward smile, His eyes half open the **** thorns pushing His hair over His eyes, the door at the far end opens and the young priest enters in his black garb like a young rook on the prowl, he genuflects and makes the sign of the cross, then peers down towards Martha who hides her cigarette out of sight, the smoke drifting less so but under the lower pews, he looks away goes to the altar fiddles with things goes to the tabernacle and opens the door and fiddles inside, she looks at her cigarette, lowers her head and takes a swift inhalation, then sits back up gazes at the priest **** arsing about, the cigarette between fingers out of sight, and she thinking if it was the priest and Sister Luke and the carrying ons and what and where if so, anyway she muses letting the smoke drift from her lips what do they know?
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97
Here in my middle ages, I look at the young men, as they court and the young girls, as they are courted they are so full of life, and so empty of wisdom and yet, so full of life I feel my life waning I feel the life draining, out of the pond, and into the river But the old codger on the street-corner craggy, dried man, drained and empty He cheers the young men on with a toothy grin and a wink he nods at the boys as they follow that girl down the street with their eyes, and their hearts. the old flower-seller lady urges the young man and she watches the young girl, and sighs remembering her own first rose, brought to her by a young man, perhaps just like this one brought with a stumbling shyness, by a boy who knew she loved flowers but didn't know why and didn't care why except, that something about that flower might make her think of him, and feel happy when she did because while he wanted her to think of him, he wanted her to be happy too it would be another 47 years before he would understand that he really just wanted her to be happy and said so, with his last breath She sighs, knowing this is how it is and knows how to be happy watching another boy making a fool of himself without knowing why because he will know why, when it becomes important, and in the meantime will do what he can without knowing why And I, here in my middle ages, still worry about what I don't know I worry about what I can no longer do I feel, here in my middle ages, stuck in the middle neither wise, nor full of youthful vigor but I watch the codger winking and the flower-lady sighing her sighs and watching them wink and sigh, I lose my fear Time will pass me by, and in its passing will teach me to wink, and sigh, and to not miss being young and stupid and so full of life that there was no room for knowing why the happiness that sits by my side sipping her coffee with me, watching me, watching them, knowing that I watch, and think, happy with the show of things she cannot see, going on in my mind knowing why her happiness is so important to me. I hope I tell her in a breath sooner than my last I hope to tell her with a wink, that her happiness is more important than mine I want to hear her sigh, before it means she misses me
0
Feb 9, 2011
Feb 9, 2011 at 11:16 PM UTC
Winks and Sighs
Here in my middle ages, I look at the young men, as they court and the young girls, as they are courted they are so full of life, and so empty of wisdom and yet, so full of life I feel my life waning I feel the life draining, out of the pond, and into the river But the old codger on the street-corner craggy, dried man, drained and empty He cheers the young men on with a toothy grin and a wink he nods at the boys as they follow that girl down the street with their eyes, and their hearts. the old flower-seller lady urges the young man and she watches the young girl, and sighs remembering her own first rose, brought to her by a young man, perhaps just like this one brought with a stumbling shyness, by a boy who knew she loved flowers but didn't know why and didn't care why except, that something about that flower might make her think of him, and feel happy when she did because while he wanted her to think of him, he wanted her to be happy too it would be another 47 years before he would understand that he really just wanted her to be happy and said so, with his last breath She sighs, knowing this is how it is and knows how to be happy watching another boy making a fool of himself without knowing why because he will know why, when it becomes important, and in the meantime will do what he can without knowing why And I, here in my middle ages, still worry about what I don't know I worry about what I can no longer do I feel, here in my middle ages, stuck in the middle neither wise, nor full of youthful vigor but I watch the codger winking and the flower-lady sighing her sighs and watching them wink and sigh, I lose my fear Time will pass me by, and in its passing will teach me to wink, and sigh, and to not miss being young and stupid and so full of life that there was no room for knowing why the happiness that sits by my side sipping her coffee with me, watching me, watching them, knowing that I watch, and think, happy with the show of things she cannot see, going on in my mind knowing why her happiness is so important to me. I hope I tell her in a breath sooner than my last I hope to tell her with a wink, that her happiness is more important than mine I want to hear her sigh, before it means she misses me
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46
'Where are all the rough men?' Said the codger to the son 'For it's time we were home again And daylight's almost done For though this park is fair To look upon in light The shadows truly fill the air With goons who long to fight Where are all the rough men Who used to walk this park? For it's time we were home again Before it grows to dark They're gone, i tell you lad, And we'll never get them back And you should be remorseful And mournful for our lack For now we're watched by half-men They're eunuchs one and all How can these skinny jeans stand When the blows begin to fall? Show me the thugs of yester-year, Those bold and brawny men Who'd hear the war drums pounding And come running glen to glen Bring me back my brothers, And these villains one and all Would run back to their mothers And seek no other brawl But my eyesight now forsakes me And my hand forgets its wrench And my legs will not allow me To go far beyond this bench Were that i was sprier And still retained my brawn But now I simply tire And the last rough man is gone'
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Mar 2, 2013
Mar 2, 2013 at 1:54 PM UTC
The Codger
All this... O, this shall be his. He who in well-leaned doorways And oft-learned corners Hath resigned any byways To dream: “A tall order To rove in the mud And muck up one's soles” Says he who would trod Upon painless goals. Him safe in his womb, His wont wooden beams. Neglect to his comb and Plume and dusty seeds. “Who would fret in the rain?” He asks. “And why suffer venture?” “I've a cubby! Where's the shame In my hearth and decanter?” “I tell you all!” he says One night, in a fit. “Them's fools! They that count on the coldness and chance Of a bleak, backwards world In despotic hands. Come time, Come the end- You'll see what I have!” O, the mites and the mice And the crumbs and the cracks And the creaks in the night And the stock-still plants And the angles all learned And the steps all a measure And every walking turn And every processed pleasure And the patterns and ease With his paper and naps What is good on the knees And light on the back And the age and the greys And the frustrating lust And the well-worn ways And the old codger's fuss And the twilight come And the shadows of scythes And a final look back Through wondering eyes And the what-if's and why's Of the best girl in Eire And the laughter of kids In a moistening eye... And the plain wooden box And the standard rites And the empty expanse Of the graveyard night. And no crowd and no cries Just a man and ***** And pile of dirt Where ol' whats-his-name lays All this- O, This shall be his. -c. c. Condry
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Mar 12, 2011
Mar 12, 2011 at 8:32 PM UTC
This Shall Be His
All this... O, this shall be his. He who in well-leaned doorways And oft-learned corners Hath resigned any byways To dream: “A tall order To rove in the mud And muck up one's soles” Says he who would trod Upon painless goals. Him safe in his womb, His wont wooden beams. Neglect to his comb and Plume and dusty seeds. “Who would fret in the rain?” He asks. “And why suffer venture?” “I've a cubby! Where's the shame In my hearth and decanter?” “I tell you all!” he says One night, in a fit. “Them's fools! They that count on the coldness and chance Of a bleak, backwards world In despotic hands. Come time, Come the end- You'll see what I have!” O, the mites and the mice And the crumbs and the cracks And the creaks in the night And the stock-still plants And the angles all learned And the steps all a measure And every walking turn And every processed pleasure And the patterns and ease With his paper and naps What is good on the knees And light on the back And the age and the greys And the frustrating lust And the well-worn ways And the old codger's fuss And the twilight come And the shadows of scythes And a final look back Through wondering eyes And the what-if's and why's Of the best girl in Eire And the laughter of kids In a moistening eye... And the plain wooden box And the standard rites And the empty expanse Of the graveyard night. And no crowd and no cries Just a man and ***** And pile of dirt Where ol' whats-his-name lays All this- O, This shall be his. -c. c. Condry
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59
A creaking, crotchety, crooked old man walked down a wide, winding path. He saw a poor pig poised high in a tree, so he let out a cackling laugh. “You sweet, silly swine. How did you get there? My old puzzled mind must know”. The plump, pink pig from his roost in the tree, raised his head and started to crow. The old, crafty codger clapped with delight. “What a weird wild wonder is this!” “To see such sights at this time in my life is surely a cause for bliss.” “Maybe a wicked wind whisked you there.” He laughed as he spun round and round. “Or might Mama eagle, on her way home, dropped you where you are now?” The poor pig peered down at the thin, old man bent in the bold, bright sunlight. When he heard the man laugh, the pig got mad, flew up and popped out of sight. © 2000 Guy Workman
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Jan 24, 2010
Jan 24, 2010 at 1:11 PM UTC
The Dilemma
raw April morn, daffodils be looking prematurely silly, now a May morn, daffodils no more, irises blooming though May itself a hybrid of twixt and cousin tween, coldish morns, summer afternoons, evening gusts winter reminders yesterday, walked 50 blocks in 80+ Farenhot, sweaty much and hypocrisy now reigning, oh my summer man you your self, selfishly forgot, forgot the other side of the coin, thinking hot hot hot Not, cranky old codger man, yup, yup, yup.
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Jun 6, 2024
Jun 6, 2024 at 2:44 PM UTC
East River Spring Morn
tookie winfeild was a friend of mine from way on back down the way back in my river days mean old man with a heart of gold ugly old geezer with a silver tongue ole tookie could talk a mile a second say nothin at all ole tookie was as crazy as a jackrabbit in heat and twice as slick used to see that ole codger strolling on the avenue with some young honey on his arm carefree as sin and twice in its debt yes sir...ole tookie was a friend of mine back in the day we ran that river like it was our private playground mean old man with a heart of gold ugly old geezer with a silver tongue both barrels for the lookers and a bottle of shine for the sippers yes sir back when i was young that river was ours they found old tookie winfeild up on the river frozen to death in the dead of night took to drinking up there by his lonesome and shouting at the moon aint no good ever come from no crazy man least thats what they say but old tookie was allright in his own crazy way mean old man with a heart of gold ugly old geezer with a silver tongue he was a friend to many a poor boy down the old river way
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Oct 30, 2014
Oct 30, 2014 at 4:26 PM UTC
ole' tookie
The old priest toddles up the side aisle, sways slightly side to side, goes past Mary's chapel. You watch him from the pews waiting for confession. Old Mrs O'Connor's next in line; bet she'll be there for a week or so. You kneel down on the knee rest gaze at your knees. The priest enters the confessional, closes the door; silence. Mrs O'Connor lifts herself from the pew, wanders into the confessional closes the door after her. You sit back on the pew. The young priest is down at the altar, a nun helps him fiddle with stuff. Magdalene hasn't come. What to say? What not to say? Bless me Father I've been having it off with Magdalene Murphy. An old codger comes into the pew, kneels down closes his eyes. You sigh, kneel down, close your eyes, put in a Pater Noster and an Ave. The door of the confessional opens, the O'Connor bag comes out. It is you next, so rise up, go in, ready to spill the beans of sin.
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Dec 18, 2016
Dec 18, 2016 at 8:41 AM UTC
MARY'S BEANS OF SIN 1963.
When you’re old and you’ve stuffed yourself silly On everyone’s chocolates and nice things to eat. Give me a nudge if you please, on your way out In case I fall asleep and knock myself off the seat, When you have spent all day in the garden Cutting lawns and trimming back the odd hedge. Give me a nudge on the way out please Amd leave the keys on the ledge On Saturday night, the musuc beckons you Your hips pivot like Elvis and you have feet like Rogers Give me a nudge on the way out To prove I am not like an old codger
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Feb 23, 2014
Feb 23, 2014 at 12:39 AM UTC
Giving A Nudge
Remember back, yes it was a long time ago When England and its minions lost their one and only, Lizzy the Busy, she did get about for an older kind of crow Flying to her outposts and then in her nineties Still dragging that old codger about, Philip the Greek Insulting the natives, well he is a kind of royalty His odd quip on the colour of somebodies skin, Never mind how are, what a lovely child and how have you been She married a corker there, no messing The lands that carried her name all bowing to her superiority Many of them just peasants not knowing of her really From Gibraltar through to Hong Kong where they made her royal tea Man landed on the moon, remembered for a thousand years If real or made in a Universal studio The passing of our Queen so real, some still holding back their tears Reality strikes when you see what she has left of this once great land Down to her kids to run this Island of such history And not left it drift to the sea as if built on sinking sand Monarchy and Royalty march hand in hand from the times of history Lets not forget the power that we once held To be banished away by the politically correct to leave us as a sad story As she would turn in her grave if this once great power dissolved and died She may not have said it but her wit and allegiance were British through and through Grow a backbone and be proud again, and show them at least we tried to be true JJB
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Jan 31, 2019
Jan 31, 2019 at 10:01 AM UTC
Where Were You? (When The Queen Died)
There once was a codger from Sydney who said, 'That bloke stole my sheep, didn' 'e!' He chased him to Illawong, pushed him in a billabong, and stabbed him twelve times in the kidney.
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Apr 24, 2018
Apr 24, 2018 at 4:59 AM UTC
Waltzing Matilda
I have waited with breath baited far too long for you to tell me a lie emotional high oh, my soul it will soothe to feel just for once that I was the one feel like the hand that fits in the glove to be the one that lights up your night being the sun burn away your night yet again I can see this will not be just a lonely old codger not a gull on the sea chasing a dream can never attain a dance with an angel to feel young again a walk through the valley never hurt any one can only become stronger when this day is done.
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Apr 2, 2013
Apr 2, 2013 at 9:27 PM UTC
Hope