Joe Pacheco

Got through my first eighty,

The rest’ll be easy chill,

No more puffin’ up life’s mountain

Just coastin’ back down hill.

Wakin’ up each mornin’

With somethin’ new to rhyme,

Playin’ out my last quarter

One extra day at a time.

I smile when I watch the sun set

And say, “Hasta maana, baby,

I’ll be here when you’re risin’,

No if, and, but, or maybe.

And as I wake each mornin’

One thought runs thru my mind –

To play out my last quarter

One extra day at a time.”

Got me more love than ever,

Old Devil Lust has worn away,

More joy in bein’ together,

New memories born each day,

Happy to wake each mornin’

Next to my love sublime,

Playin’ out that last quarter

One extra day at a time.

Get a big bang from the universe

And lookin’ deep up at the stars,

We were once all stardust

Just like Jupiter and Mars,

In the early light of evenin’

I watch that new moon climb,

Playin’ out that last quarter

One extra day at a time.

My poetry’s turned positive,

No more room for doom and gloom

The iceman’s still a-comin’

And it might be someday soon,

But I’ll still wake each mornin’

With bright new words to rhyme,

Playin’ out my last quarter

One extra day at a time.