Joe Pacheco

(For Robert Lindman – June 26, 1940)

Got through my first eighty,

The rest will be easy chill,

No more puffing up life’s mountain

Just coasting back down hill.

Waking up each morning,

Always something new to find,

Playing out my fourth quarter

One extra day at a time.

II

I smile when I watch the sun set

And say, “Hasta maana, baby,

I’ll be here when you’re rising,

No if, and, but, or maybe.

And as I wake each morning

One thought runs thru my mind –

To play out my fourth quarter

One extra day at a time.”

III

Got me more love than ever,

Old Devil Lust has gone away,

More joy in being together,

New memories born each day,

Happy to wake each morning

Next to my love sublime,

Playing out that fourth quarter

One extra day at a time.

IV

Get a big bang from the universe

And looking deep up at the stars,

We were once all stardust

Just like Jupiter and Mars,

In the early light of evening

I watch that new moon climb,

Playing out that fourth quarter

One extra day at a time.

V

My whole world’s turned positive,

No more room for doom and gloom

The iceman’s still a-coming

But it won’t be someday soon,

So I’ll wake each morning

And watch the new sun shine,

Playing out my fourth quarter

One extra day at a time.