He Was Aging Gracefully

Onlookers remarked that he was aging gracefully His disposition so sunny, cheerful, upbeat Making plans for the future with his sweetheart Taking such pride in his many grandchildren True, he moved tentatively, pausing more and more often to rest, breathing in fits and spasms, and betimes his sentences trailed off into the vapor of the distant past Then too there were the conversations where you needed to repeat and repeat yourself, again and again, before he would finally get it -- But oh, that infectious, wide smile which broke out on his face when he did get it! Ah, that was a smile well worth waiting for, indeed -- a smile that brought comfort and peace to all those around him... ...Who were all the more confounded when he turned inward, shaking his head, mumbling to himself as cane-aided, he shuffled and stumbled his way home 'midst the sea of disapproving faces