Poetic License: ‘Happy Nonagenarian Blues’
(For My Ninety-first Birthday)
I
Got past my first ninety,
The rest won’t be easy chill.
No more puffing up life’s mountain,
Too steep to coast downhill.
Still as I wake each morning
One thought runs through my mind,
To play out my fourth quarter
One extra day at a time.
II
Got me more love than ever,
Old Devil Lust 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.
III
I smile when I watch the sun set
And say, “Hasta mañana, baby,
I’ll be here when you’re rising,
No if, and, but, or maybe.
In the early light of evening
I watch that old moon climb —
Playing out my fourth quarter
One extra day at a time.”
IV
My whole world’s still positive,
No Pandemic 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 day shine,
Playing out my fourth quarter
One extra day at a time.