OLD-MAN TIME

Phil Roberts 1957 (Melbourne)



Old man time comes
To steal the lives of others,
To replenish his own.

Even small babies
Are not immune from his theft,
Anyone's life will do.

Every New Year's eve
He arrives to take years,
From the innocent.

Once called Methuselah
Old-Man-Time is now
The name that he prefers.

Ruthless stealer of life
Not the loveable guy,
From old fairy tales.

No old gentleman
Just a life-sucking horror,
Stealing people's lives.

Lovers out courting
Find themselves strangely tiring,
Suddenly they're old.

No-one is safe from him
Young beauties become old hags,
In mere minutes.

Young hunks fast becoming
Dried out old geezers,
As Old-Man-Time passes.

As he takes their life
Babies become teenagers
Puberty bypassed.

Taking their life force
Old people are soon skeletons,
No-one can resist

THE END
© Copyright 2021 Philip Roberts
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on May 27, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
5

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABX XXX XXX CXB DXX XXX EEX XAX EAX DBX XXX XXC
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 817
Words 138
Stanzas 12
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Phil Roberts

I turn 65 on the 31st of January 2022. I love cats, rock music, and horror fiction and poetry more…

All Phil Roberts poems | Phil Roberts Books

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