KNEES

 

The hinges of the legs

linking the calf to the thigh

Silently carrying

the weight of the body

up and down stairs

running and climbing

Unnoticed when pain-free

So easily damaged in sports

Wearing achingly in old age

 

STRANDED

Stranded in my easy chair, 

watching the weather 

 through a window, 

watching the world 

through a computer, 

remembering the days 

of striding the streets 

on my powerful legs

IN MY NINETIETH YEAR, a poem

 

The vampire of old age

drains life from my legs,

weakens my eyes,

sucks away my energy

A certain escape:

The doorway to death

lying inevitably just

a day or a decade away

 

POLLUTION of AGING, a poem

 

The pollution of old age

has melted my energy,

drained most of my strength,

muddled my memory

 

Inevitable decline

was delayed by exercise,

by using the brain

But nothing prevailed

 

The dimming of my life

means I now must exist

in a constricted world

as happily as I can

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EVERY DAY

 

         The cauldron bubbles below

Hungry for my old body

with painful wavering legs

Balancing on the tightrope

Stretched across the bottomless

 

Brief respite lies ahead

On the too narrow ledge

Of my lingering life

Before I must return

To the daily journey

 

In my youth the path

Was broad and inviting

Leading to spacious

Grassy rolling hills

With beautiful views

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LEGS, a poem

 

          Featherlike I floated

          on my powerful legs

          through a long life,

          jogging for miles,

          bounding up stairs

         

          Now, a boulder

on the precipice

of real old age

expecting to fall

into the abyss

 

A tumble lies ahead

to vanish weightlessly

into whatever future

mysteriously awaits

after my earthly journey

MY RESERVOIR, a poem

My reservoir of words

of English with smatterings

of French, German, Italian,

and Spanish with bits

of Farsi and Arabic

available at my call

throughout my life

were collected from parents

from school, from books, from films

from conversations, from theater

from dictionaries and thesauruses

          The right word, the right phrase

          flowed at will

          into my novels, poems, articles

and conversations

then old age struck

The wanted words

slow in coming

or even blocked

by feeble recall

My reservoir remains full

but difficult to access

DWINDLING, a poem

Another classmate has gone

a heavenly call from God

or sickly old age

no big difference

now we are dwindling

Yes we were young once

athletic bodies

and such pretty girls

happy were those days

now we are dwindling

What awaits all of us

a chemicalized corpse

in a concrete box

or scattered ashes

an unfettered soul

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DREAMWORLD, a poem

Rapture ignited the fire

of prolonged deepening desire

with a loving intensity  

impossible to satisfy

in our dreamworld

The passage of time turned passion

into a smoldering landscape

periodically bursting

into renovated romance

in our dreamworld

Old age seized us

in its wearing grip

worn bodies remember

the sparks of young love

in our dreamworld

          (Feb. 7, 2018)

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WILDCAT, a poem

           

          Wildcat, what inflamed such desire

          perhaps my naked ready body

          transported you into a female fire

          Memories of the Wildcat you were

          Still stirs my near ancient lingam

          The joy of having made you purr

         

          Your zeal for my source of delight

          Often pulled me from deepest sleep

          For thrilling joinings in our night

         

          The lovely touch of your sweet skin

          Withheld in the years of old age

          Reminds me of what once had been

          (Written in February, 2017)