Becoming Unafraid To Age

Lawrence S. Pertillar 1947 (Connecticut)



Growing older to feel,
A youthfulness...
Quickening a pace,
To face withering away.
Is just the beginning and not the end,
One pretends to be much wiser.
As time flies by.
To know more about the past,
When these questions are asked!
With a becoming unafraid to age and say,

'If I knew...
What was happening these days,
The way they are to go on...
Making it okay to accept,
People crazed and out of their minds?
I would have packed away,
Those wild and freaky clothes I wore.
And today could have made a fortune!'

'Oookay!
But..
What advice,
Do you have for young folks like me?'

'Smoke your weed from a pipe.
Don't use rolling paper.
The doing of it can be expensive.'

'Is that it?'

'Grow it if you can.
Since that stuff today?
Is not nearly as good as it was,
When unknown chemicals...
Have been added to it.
Now approved by the government.
To claim it has miraculous physical,
And mental benefits.
However if you notice...
More of our leaders,
In positions of authority?
Are drugged and addicted,
On a power to obtain.
And when we were getting high,
All we wanted to do...
Is chill out, drink beer or wine.
And munch on anything we could find!'

'But...
I thought,
Growing older made people wise.'

'I use to believe those lies too!
But the proof and evidence of it,
I have yet to see.
Have you?'

'Well...
I was hoping you would give me,
At least a hint or a clue!'

'I did.
Didn't I say,
Smoke your weed from a pipe?
And stay away,
From passing a 'bong' around.
One never knows,
Who is putting what in it.
And...
Don't be so quick to get naked.'

'WHAT?'

'Unless...
You do it done prepared to pay the price!'

'That growing older thing is over-rated!'

'Tell me about it.
And...
That's not all either.
There were times I became,
Fired up and so excited.
I spent a fortune on hats.
That were either too big.
Or didn't fit.'

'WHAT?'

'Be tolerant and patient with reality.
Trust me!
You will find in time,
That too to be disappointing.
And embarrassingly overrated as well.
Especially when you are trying,
To revisit a past without heat in the oven!'

'You old folks make no sense at all.'

'I stopped trying!'

'Making sense?'

'That too!'






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Submitted by lpahtillah on December 16, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:33 min read
7

Quick analysis:

Scheme xaabxcdxxa eaxxabxf gHai Jcx k xbaakxxaaailxdexx Hxa ekae mie xaJbxakNl aa l kNcxlagk iixgmgf x g
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 2,157
Words 507
Stanzas 16
Stanza Lengths 10, 8, 4, 3, 1, 17, 3, 4, 3, 9, 2, 1, 8, 7, 1, 1

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