She coughed with a
hack like the devil
Cigarettes had taken
their toll
Looking every bit of
her vast years
Though I didn’t know
just how old
“Did you hear that
young girl over there?”
Looking back as she
spoke to me
“She’s complaining
about her new job
Bet she don’t work
as hard as me!”
“Kids today they
don’t know a damn thing
Except how to bitch
and complain
They got it too good
I’m tellin’ ya
Don’t even use half
of their brains!”
I stared at her as
she went on and on
Her face was a
twisted up knot
I wasn’t sure if she
made some sense
Or, maybe she didn’t
know squat
“Oh don’t get me
wrong I’m getting old”
“But, I’m happy to
do the work”
“I sure won’t sit
around and complain”
“Folks would call
this old broad a jerk!”
I finally got the
nerve to ask her
Knowing she was
older than me
Just how long had
she been on this earth
She yelled out like
a crazed banshee
“Hell! I’m gonna be
fifty next year!!”
I turned my head the
other way
I guess it was good
my jaw had dropped
Since I had nothing
more to say
This crazy old loud
hacking woman
That I had “pigeon
holed” you see
Was not what I had
assumed at all
Oh dear Lord! She’s
younger than me!
The moral of my
story is clear
It’s really not
smart to assume
Or, you might spend
the rest of your days
Pickin’ your jaw up
with a broom!
I know - I know ! Sometimes I am amazed at young folks in thier 50s who were "Rode Hard - and Put Away Wet". They are done already. Then you see a 90 year old on roller skates. Go figure. I do marvel in retrospect to think how ancient I thought the old men were in 1965, some TWENTY BIG YEARS after WWII. Me and another Vietnam Vet were reminiscing today 45 YEARS later from THAT event and it is hard to wrap our gray heads around how old we really are.
ReplyDelete