My aging has sneaked up on me
Uncovering fragility
Making plain my mortality
To help me see reality
Why was I blind to death’s approach
As all my aches and pains encroached?
Or when my sacroiliac
Left me stricken, and out of whack?
Should I have felt my knees’ complaint
When piercing pain caused me to faint,
Or seen red flags when weakened sight
Produced halos from cars’ bright lights?
Did I say my memory’s rotten
Full of holes with names forgotten?
My phone is lost. Where are my keys?
What is the name of my next disease?
Lotions and potions I buy galore
To ease my pain and cure each sore.
I track their numbers, I keep score
To know when I must buy some more.
Then comes the mental status test.
Do backwards math. Show us your best!
I toss and turn throughout the night.
I dream I’ll fail. I’m not that bright.
I did not heed my body’s call
“Prepare before your mortal fall.
The time has come to make your will,
To write your trust, before you’re ill.
“Tell your loved ones of your choice.
As if you’ve heard your body’s voice
Of aches and pains, fatigue and creaks,
Of bends and breaks and unsaid leaks.”
How could I be so very blind
Not to read the signs of time?
I did not see my coming plight
Death is my end, despite my fight.
In summary what might I say,
Despite gallstones and tooth decay?
There’s hope in what I do today
While life is here, I’ll not delay.
I pledge to do one act a day
To live in love along my way
To meet you on this path so bright
Where love and prayer and hope delight.
So, join me in mortality;
We’ll not deny reality;
Let’s give ourselves in work and play
And act in peace and love each day.
©Dick Millspaugh, October 3, 2024
Revised November 24, 2024
Dick Millspaugh is a retired Board Certified Hospital Chaplain ordained by the United Methodist Church. He was previously Chief of Chaplains at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Dick and his wife currently reside in Scripps Ranch. He enjoys writing poetry, woodworking, ceramics, and playing Bocce Ball.