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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REMNANTS, a poem

 

The remnants of ‘52

are gathering once again

Our numbers now diminished,

the far horizon looms near

 

Reunions bring us together

to faces never grown old

The essence of each prevails,

reviving joyous memories

 

Fordham Prep made us elite

Each life lived is a great story

Recall the very best moments

in every remaining day

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TRYING, a poem

 

Denied the gift of genius

by genes or just circumstance,

the ordinary poet or writer

relies upon a muse, education,

experience and extensive reading

 

Attaining rare greatness

demands skill and focus

and of course, achievement

Yet the great are shadows

of the fulfilled genius

 

Success for the majority

requires a willingness to work

without the acclaim of others,

but with the pleasure of trying

to achieve creative moments

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MY EVEREST, a poem

 

Worn by a lifetime

of use, my old knees

tend towards collapse

in climbing the stairs

 

Hillary had Norgay

to ascend his mountain,

a more mundane machine

carries my body up

 

Climbing my Everest,

a stair chair lifts me

to the paradise

of my own second floor

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FAUX GENEROSITY, a poem

 

To give without his giving,

he smugly summoned

his imagination

for an adventure

in faux generosity

 

Envisioning a valise

bursting with thick bundles

of hundred-dollar bills,

he rose into the air

to soar across the city

 

Startling the needy

at a food pantry,

he thrust his largesse

into anxious hands,

pleased with himself

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FALLING, a poem

 

Empires fall

Democracies fall

Snows fall

Rains fall

Oaks fall

Leaves fall

The young fall in love

The old fall into death

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A FAN, a poem

 

Is life worth living

as a fan

The answer is yes

if the fan

enjoys the games

 

I am a fan too

as a reader of books,

as a watcher of films,

and in the theater

enjoying those games

 

The writers, the actors,

the technicians

perform like athletes

but on film or paper

or on the stage

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