One Foot In

I’m tired all the time these days With aches and pains that show my age. Rusty springs, instill in me, this unfamiliar rage. Logic still escapes me as air once clear, is filled with blame. Smaller piles of laundry now, marshmallows never taste the same. Branches wither in stilling air, avenues are closed. Most, I find in disrepair, like my soiled clothes. I saw an empty car lot where the harlots used to play. Neglected street signs pointing homeward, each a different way. With fury of an ant I rail, against an unseen hold, Walk with toes and fingertips all curled against the cold. I slide through days like mayonnaise, not caring anymore. Cannot find my other shoe, now hidden in some drawer. The steel trap let the bear escape, Thoughts I thought I knew one time, now wear a sticky tape. Unfamiliar landscape in so short a meager time; Millimeters measuring me a lifetime’s final rhyme. My hands and feet are gray!! My thoughts seem very odd. Am I talking to myself; or am I hearing God? My youth and heart, still sing eternal; but for that infernal clock. Some stories never passed my lips, for fear a look of shock. I forego summer walks with sun, so merry be it warming, Gather fruit and evening jute, held tight against a storming. My eyes are wet, I wonder why, pause by the gate, let loose a sigh, On my clock the hour cannot wait; I’ve one foot in, The other’s running late.