79

 Seventy nine and a bit

I arise today to eat my porridge and bran

If I am what I eat I’ll become a healthy man

Banished like serpents are wine and the crisps

And in their old place are the tea and the biscuits.  

Gone is the chocolate, in with the apples 

Gone are the dentists, nowhere to be seen

I’ll fill up my plate with lettuce and cabbage

Like a true Irishman I’ll eat all my greens. 

I’ll silence the Twitter now Elon’s in charge

I’ll leave Facebook til August perhaps even later

Saving the hours and with the spare time 

I’ll write poems  and verse that occasionally rhyme. 

With a blast from the past when I bend over

To the sound of knees creaking and everything leaking

All the pills marshaled on the bright breakfast table

Counted and swallowed as fast as I’m able. 

With less teeth to manage and less hair to brush

Nothing is urgent that merits a rush

It’s a wonderful life, a marvelous time

To reach the old age of seventy nine.