April 1 - The Six W's

The Six W’s

By Tom King

Growing old I find at this late stage in life ain’t fun.

Growing old is one of the few journeys in the world

Where the voyage itself was a lot more fun than voyage’s end;

Where your destination was not the place you thought it would be.

It does seem a little sad to me, that my expectations were so mistaken.

It does seem a bit ironic in a way, and not in a good way,

When we were young, alive and full of vigor, we did not understand.

When we were so anxious to grow up, we missed the part about growing old.

I miss my youth more now than when I was busy raising kids of my own.

I miss my senses; the clean feeling of touch in my toes and hands and face

What is left of me is not quite the man that I had hoped to be.

What remains is not the man I feared I might become.

I can’t tell you if things might have gone better had I made other choices.

I can’t tell you if in the time that has been granted to me to make my choices,

Whether I have come to the place I once set out for as a child or

Whether or not I came here all this long way, entirely of my own volition.

All I do know in the warm light of day’s end is that I am content.

All I do know in the stillness of the twilight of my life is that,

Who I am is who I might have wanted to be back then and

Who I am is not the miserable old man I might have once become.

I got here on a path that I thank God I had the sense to choose when I was young.

I got here, not by the easy smooth road, but by the high path and hard trail.

Why I came the way I did was His doing not mine for I’d have chosen easier ways.

Why I came here was grace entire; the inevitable gift of love if only you’d have it.

© by Tom King


Photo © 2009 by Chris JL - Some rights reserved