Whether I am
seven and
a half or
seventy
five, the I
who looks out
of my window
is the same I,
no matter how
he appears to
those looking in.
Tag: old age
You must remember this
Sometimes I
meet someone
from my past
who tells me
something I didn’t
know about
a common friend,
or enemy,
or event,
that completely
alters my
memory of
that person
or history.
Are all of
my memories
fungible?
Vanishing perspective
Once upon a
time I used to
say “Oh, if only
I was twenty
years younger”.
Now, suddenly
it seems, I
have to say
”Oh, if only
I was fifty
years younger.”
In the old days
Oh, those old
university
lecturers
of mine. How
ancient
they were, fossils
lecturing
about fossils.
Why they must
have been at
least forty
years old, some
even fifty!
Have you heard the one about…
The last stage
of old age
is where you
have run out
of people
who haven’t
heard all your
anecdotes.
A good day
However much
I complain about
the perils of
old age, and
I do, loudly,
it is better
than the
alternative,
much better.
Paradox
If I had known
then what I know
now, I would
have done some things
differently,
would have done
different
things. But then I
wouldn’t have known
the same things now
as I knew just
a moment ago.
One man in his time
We all, I think
make the mistake,
of confusing
actors with the
roles they play on
stage. But we are
all actors on
the stage of life.
Don’t confuse me
with roles I play.
Better late
I reached my
seventies, it
seemed, in a rush.
Suddenly I was
wandering in
a forest of years:
71, 77, 73, 78,
74, and look,
over there, at
the edge of the
forest, is 79.
And I think,
“I won’t be in
this forest very
long, for I am
running through
it. I should make
up my mind soon
what I am going
to do with my
life.”
Turn back time
Wouldn’t it be
good if we could
go back in time
at will, to any
part of our lives,
in turn, and fiddle,
adjust, undo,
redo, make
better, make
amends, set
right, streamline,
straighten course,
enjoy, savour,
say goodbye,
say hullo,
say thank you,
all with the
benefit of
hindsight.
Or would it?
