Variety # 2

I’M HAPPIER NOW I’VE GOTTEN OLDER

I’m happier now I’ve gotten older,
I’ve learned to ignore the negative
And care less what people think
So now it’s easier to be positive

I CAN ONLY GUESS AT

I can only guess at
What the future might hold
Will I even make old bones?
Not that I want to live forever,
But whatever age I achieve
I don’t want to look back
And wonder what might have been
So I will live every day
Like it was to be my last
So at the end
I will not lament my past
And now I will not worry
About what might be

I DON’T COMPLAIN ABOUT

I don’t complain about
My silver hair and wrinkled face
I’ve lived a long life
And laughed more than my share
I’m content as so many
Of my generation never laughed,
And so many died before
Their hair has time to turn grey

I’M AT THE STAGE IN LIFE

I’m at the stage in life
When I’m sometimes forgetful
Although let’s face it
There’s a lot in life
That is better off forgotten
But as forgetful as I am
I never forget the important things

I LOOK AHEAD OF ME

I look ahead of me,
Across the unknown years
And I wonder:
Will I like being old?
Or even like the person
That I will become?

WHEN I WAS AT SCHOOL

When I was at school
Our English teacher, Mrs Rowan
Once asked of us as homework,
During the half term holiday
To memorize our favourite poem,
This was met by groans,
By the class, but not me
I chose A.E.Housman’s
“Ode to an athlete dying young”
And it has stayed with me ever since

IF PEOPLE MAKE DEMANDS OF YOU

If people make demands of you
Disarm them skilfully
Give them more than they expect
And do it cheerfully

LIKE A GAGGLE OF GEESE

Like a gaggle of geese
The hen party traversed
The gaudy Blackpool strip
From bar to bar
And club to club
The tarty group
In their shameless parade
The legless slappers
Ended the night
Even more undignified
Than they had begun it
“If that’s possible”
Sitting in the gutter
In their own piss and vomit

SMOOTH SOFT STONES

Smooth soft stones
Picked from the beach
Rounded and smooth
To the touch
Opened a floodgate
In my mind
As distant memories
Rushed in
Of a different time and place
A simpler time
And way of life
When hours could be spent
In the innocent pursuit
Of ducks and drakes

LOOKING AFTER THE PENNIES

When I was a boy
I saved my pennies
For a rainy day
I saved every cent,
My pocket money
Every Friday
The Money back
On the empties
A paper round
In the morning
And delivering
The Weekly Sport
On a Saturday evening
Cleaning Grandmas windows
And Odd jobs
For the neighbours
Then on Saturday morning
I’d take it all,
The Ten bob notes
And tanners,
Halfpennies
And threepenny bits
And pay it all in
To my Post Office savings

BRITISH GAS FIVE STAR

I can remember a time
In the dim and distant past
When you could boast
To your friends and neighbours
That you were the proud user
Of the British Gas five star,
All singing all dancing,
Central heating and boiler cover
Which was akin to saying
You had a Rolls Royce
Parked in your garage
Such was its superior quality
Of course that was a world away
In in different century
Now having British Gas homecare
Is the equivalent to owning,
A 1983 Skoda