A good old man

You would have made a good old man
and days and months would have enjoyed
playing with you as they grew into decades,
tip toeing down the hall to try and sneak past.
Conversation and advice finally setting
a table your sons would pull up chairs to,
while they enjoyed small plates of fellowship
and awaited their own children’s arrival.

You could have made so many statements
distancing yourself from the newest trends,
like “why the hell would anyone need a smart
watch to talk to the phone in their pocket?”
Laughter and sarcasm slapping palms
when you quit learning how things worked,
not because you really couldn’t understand,
but you were old enough not to care anymore.

You would have made a good old man
planning month long package tours to places
in China and South America and Africa to
take pictures of things you had read about.
Irritation and embarrassment competing
as that couple from Texas talked down to
everyone while continuously saying things
like “back home we don’t do it like that!”
 
You should have perfected that grimace
face while reading the label to your
cholesterol meds or canned vegetable
soup through drug store reading glasses.
Resignation and resistance mingling
upon your realization you would actually
need to buy one of those plastic seven-day
pillboxes to keep track of your prescriptions.

You would have made a good old man
trying not to show that your knee hurt
when straddled by small legs pretending to
ride a horse they expected to go “faster, faster!”
Gratitude and sadness jostle each other
while memories suggest interactions
and experiences that would have made
for great stories about your golden years. 


                        I miss you…



--- by Steve McKennon, 02 June 2015