I think it very sad, don't you?-
That we grow old but  songs never do.
I'm listening to Kim Carnes
sing of Betty Davis eyes
but I can't will myself back
to the Dublin Pub
where I heard it the first time.

We were young and beautiful then.
(Vouch for me, I'll vouch for you)
I hear they've torn the old place down.
That's a **** shame, sad but true

I didn’t know what the excitement was all about; being just a boy.
I thought my mother was taking me to see some harlot,
caught in the act of adultery,******.
Instead we left the city gates and climbed up Golgotha,
where three executions were taking place.
The sky was grey, foreboding, the wind tasted of rain.
I looked upon the three condemned, engaged in a cruel game.
Hanging, arms outstretched on crosses ,struggling to rise to take each breath.
I saw this was a losing battle; soon fatigue would stake its claim.
My mother said that two were thieves, caught in the act , condemned.
The other was a blasphemer; a crown of thorns upon his head.
(Strange for the Romans to take an interest in him,.
stoning to death a much more usual remedy for sin.)
The condemned were naked to the sky as they struggled and began to die.
The one they called the Rebbe called out
In words that gave my heart a chill.
Then he slumped in Death’s embrace
And all about was still.
The sky grew dark and the Earth beneath us shook.
My mother hurried me away from there then.
I didn’t stay to see his friends take his body down from the cross
But yes, yes, I was there the day they crucified my Lord.

My brother related a strange dream that he had:
It took place in a bar; he was there with our Dad.
they both ordered a Guinness, in the mood for a stout.
They both were committed  to enjoy their night out
The barkeep then asked if they'd be running a tab.
Jim reached in his pocket, he paid for his drink  and Dad's.
" I don't think we will."" Just the one now" He said,
"For I'm on blood thinners and my Dad here is dead."

After the burial service
and after the meal for the guests.,
The old man returned home.
He felt badly in need of a rest.

He entered into the room they had shared
for all their years before.
It was faintly redolent of her favorite perfume,
but his Love wasn't here anymore.

Alone in their room,  the old man shed some tears;
He had shown a brave face to the World.
Now, all alone, he permitted his grief
to pour out for the loss of his girl.

He fell down on his knees by the side of their bed
but all efforts at prayer were undone
when he saw  on the wall a photo of her,
back in the days they were young.

That night he slept in the room down the hall.
The room they has saved for a guest.
There were too many memories in their marriage bed
for the old man to get any rest.

In his sleep he had dreams  of an ancient Greek myth
when the gods gave an old couple grace:
To spare death and mourning they were turned into trees.
There together both firmly rooted in place.


His son came the next day to see how he was
For his dad hadn't answered his calls.
He found Death had answered Dad's prayers
There in that room down the hall.

Love is a gift and Life is a challenge
Charon gives rides shore to shore.
The old man was blessed to have passed in his sleep
and was joined with his love evermore.

Our Earth is but a pale blue dot
When seen from Saturn’s rings.
Voyager took the photo
which I found among my things.
Our Earth is a fragile sapphire
in the immensity of space.
I think we should take care of it
For we have no other place.

The glimmer of hope gets brighter
Those dark clouds are fading away
Soon your life will get better
The sunshine will be here to stay.

The weight off your mind will be taken
Your burdens you'll carry no more
There is A life now that is waiting
A key that will open your door.

Your past it will be left behind you
Move forward the future is yours
Now you will do what you need to
Go on look out and explore.

Take heed of aĺl your surroundings
Their is beauty of every Kind
Look out foř the things that are calming
And that hope  that will open your mind.

This world it is so full of sorrows
With things that can bring you down
But the sun it will come out tomorrow
And the joys in this life will be found.

I have never been a big fan of hospitals, yet here I sat.
Wordlessly, I held my Grandmother’s hand, listening to each breath.
She was somewhere north of ninety as she neared her journey’s end.
She was lucid intermittently, she spoke of departed friends.
She told me of her adventures; the mountains she had climbed.
Sunsets she’d shared with lovers who then parted by sunrise.
She told me of her voyages on Homer’s wine dark sea.
“ I leave this life with no regrets.” She whispered, soft, to me.
Those were the last words that she spoke though her heart kept on some time.
It waited for her spirit to resume her final climb.
A final lesson for her grandson; the good life requires chance.
A life lived too conservatively is no subject for romance.

A most remarkable woman; she parted here with no regret.
She experienced the best of Life from sunrise to sunset.

Now is the sixty-third Springtime
Of my life,
And the Summer of my contentedness
Tees up.
A fore-gone conclusion.