Sunday, February 23, 2014

Birthday Songs for the 1952 Cohort

2B62

(To tune of “As Time Goes By”)

We must remember this,
Standing at the abyss,
Years fly as years do fly,
Our aging we cannot deny
As time goes by.

And when, at sixty-two,
They say “you may be due
For pension to apply” --
Our past does bring our future nigh
As time goes by.

Those contributions
Cached for later date
Plus the interest
Added to our plate;
We’ll need income
To live out our fate --
On this we can rely.

It’s still the same old story
Counting inventory,
To last until we die.
The world will always want our money
As time goes by.

Do calculations
With too much unknown;
All speculations
Invoking a groan.
We need comfort
Even when we are grown --
That no one can deny.

For now, remember this,
We have a job, such bliss,
They’ll not yet say goodbye --
We’ll hang on if we try
As time goes by.



Don’t Sigh So Much, You Old-timer

(To extracts of the tune: Don’t Cry for Me Argentina)

Don’t sigh so much, you old-timer!
Your youth hasn’t really left you.
Although your wild days,
Your mad existence,
And those old promises
Fade in the distance.

Under the batterings of aging,
(Which you never invited in
Although they came anyway),
You grew by inch and mile.
Age is illusion,
It’s not a dilution.
Years add more layers,
But you are there all the time;
Time only hides you inside you.

Don’t sigh so much, you old-timer!
Your youth still plays within you
With the working you,
Husband-father you,
And all that is you;
So, Happy Birthday!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

A Small Happy World

A Small Happy World


Somebody needs to care, but it need not be me,
I will take a small share from what near me I see.
But the woes of it all is more than I will bear,
As so behind my wall, I will stay unaware.
Can I hide here within with just my pleasant dreams,
And reduce what has been to what it blindly seems?
Can I hold my comfort that many do not share
And withhold my consort from others in despair?
Perhaps, I "can" with ease, but "should" is the question;
Should a small sphere I please, to avoid depression?
Is helplessness enough to give excuse to stop --
The ugly world rebuff and dismissive shields drop?

Friday, February 14, 2014

Valentines, Ink.

Valentines, Ink
Corporate Language of Love

Contractually:
Be it known, the party of the first part
Admires and desires party number two,
And counts as assets his soul and his heart,
Held in trust where interest does accrue.
Herein said first party humbly offers
A proposal their assets to combine
In a merger to fill Cupid's coffers,
If you consent to be my Valentine.

Financially:
    If pennies buy dollars when put in the right stock,
    And small dreams turn the key of all industry's clock,
        Invest in my wee line
        And be my Valentine;
    Together we can find if someone buys this schlock.

Fiduciarily:
When I exchanged my love for thine,
Your trust I did invoke.
It is the contract of Valentine
In the promises we spoke.
I hold my duty the most dear
To do my best for you.
All my priorities are clear,
Telling me what to do.
This year as I renew my oath
And ask you to be mine,
I pledge my never-ending troth
To all that you assign.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Home from Vacation

HOME FROM VACATION


Home from vacation; Oh my, what a rest!
From sixty to zero, life did change its pace.
No schedule to meet at someone's behest;
Only a spectator of the rat race.
The Weather Channel told me of the storms
That besieged the folks back home in the North;
The snowfall that piled beyond standard norms,
Temperatures squeezing out any warmth.
Snug in Florida, I slept through the chill,
Which drove residents to find scarf and cap,
Until the afternoon sunshine started to grill,
And then on the chaise, I caught a short nap.
I could not endure such ease forever,
But, for two weeks, it is fine however.