On Growing Old

On Growing Old © Ben Burton 5-21-2014 I was something to behold back in my childhood Quite the trickster, I was faster than my prey Plastic vomit, rubber snakes, the best was "Hotfoot" April first was in my wheelhouse every day I was thirty when I wed my childhood sweetheart Soon there'd come a run of sadness in my life We were overjoyed the day my wife got pregnant In delivery, she and our baby died Through the years I watched my world move on without me No more reason to buy greeting cards to send Guess the hardest part of life is in the living With pretensions that it's never gonna end Lost my mom and dad when I was still a young man Seven siblings met their maker one by one My old friends are buried in a dozen graveyards I'm as healthy as a horse, but feeling numb Goodbye doesn't seem the same when no one hears it And "Hellos" aren't needed with a room so bare Though it can be fun to watch the odd reaction From the unfamiliar faces standing there It is frightening to see death in all its faces Never knowing which will knock upon my door I will fight like hell as Scary Ned approaches Though I'll wonder what it is I'm fighting for I now realize the only thing I'm growing Is more lonely with each shallow breath I take For all happiness abandoned me by fifty I should think I'd be relieved to greet the wraith But there's no need for complaining at this juncture I rode life like a wild stallion in my day Now, I face that final ride into forever Feeling gratified I had my chance to race