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Lv 7
? asked in Arts & HumanitiesPoetry · 10 years ago

What is being very old like?

Centenarian

the years flash by

like the frames in a motion picture,

while the days are spent watching

oaks grow from acorns to giants in your mind

with no progress in the day

and everything different in a year-

birthdays seem a month apart

while hours take eternity to pass

during a sleepless night

thinking of everyone known for years now dead

while friends from the next generation die now-

your children dying natural deaths before you

and only grandchildren remain,

while doctors just shake their heads and smile.

Update:

My grandmother died 4 days before her 107th birthday. Her aunt lived to 102 and told me when I was four or five, perhaps six, what it was like when the Yankees came after the Civil War. She was ten when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Such sources give a gift of knowledge.

I am 60, and where most my age have medicine cabinets that rival pharmaceutical warehouses, mine is just a mirror. On bad days I feel 40, and on good ones 15 or so.

Being a geezer and not dead is great. I'd like a shot at 120 myself. I continue to make new friends who could last that long.

Life IS good. And, being well makes it rich and rewarding, too.

Update 2:

My grandmother died 4 days before her 107th birthday. Her aunt lived to 102 and told me when I was four or five, perhaps six, what it was like when the Yankees came after the Civil War. She was ten when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Such sources give a gift of knowledge.

I am 60, and where most my age have medicine cabinets that rival pharmaceutical warehouses, mine is just a mirror. On bad days I feel 40, and on good ones 15 or so.

Being a geezer and not dead is great. I'd like a shot at 120 myself. I continue to make new friends who could last that long.

Life IS good. And, being well makes it rich and rewarding, too.

8 Answers

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  • ?
    Lv 7
    10 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    I'm glad I caught this Shannon

    Longevity reminds us to hold close our friends, in the days of wine and roses, rejoice

    Your timing, is remarkable....elastic

    ....a sadly rich poem, with a wizened mind,

    a Knight's tale, of Kings and Queens

  • Warren D
    Lv 7
    10 years ago

    I'm 70.

    About a year ago my mother passed away at age 91. My mother-in-law is now 92. Age can be a blessing or a curse.

    I consider it a gift, though. There may come a time when my health begins to fail and when the good memories seem so distant that I will want a release. I can't visualize that.

    Your poem captures what my imagination seems to say old age will be like. Half a lifetime ago I couldn't visualize what being 70 would be like, but here I am, and it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

    Maybe old age won't be either.

  • .
    Lv 7
    10 years ago

    You don't post often but when you do, it comes with a kick. I've seen this too many times to count. Your description of birthdays a month apart and those eternal hours of a sleepless night? Hit home, that did. And how about one night with a kidney stone grinding the lining of one's urethra? Those smiling doctors hand you a rope to bite on and continue smiling.

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    I think I know from whence you speak...my father (now passed) was the last survivor of 3 siblings, a widower, cousins gone, aunts and uncles, gone, friends, gone...he spoke often of feeling alone,

    Your poem is very well written and accurate in nature. Amazing work, really!

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  • cassie58
    Lv 7
    10 years ago

    Excellent portrayal of what it would be like to reach the age of 100. It doesn't sound too attractive, so I think I would be quite happy to bow out before then. Can't imagine just how lonely it would be when your nearest and dearest have gone and so have all your friends and each day is exactly the same as the one before.

  • lovechild
    Lv 7
    10 years ago

    What I like is when they will share some stories rich in history that are not in any textbooks. The American Dreamers that were betryed, at the end, by the leaders in the goverment.

  • maggikate
    Lv 5
    10 years ago

    Shannon, Shannon.

    Why are you so grim tonight?

    You know I am no poet, so please ponder a few words from my favorite:

    We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting. -- Kahlil Gibran

    Also consider my other favorite poet.

    Always look on the brighter side of life. -- Brian

    Now go get happy.

    Next words I read from you, I hope they will spring from your realization of your amazing existence.

  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    Absolutely fantastic, well done :)

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