he liked to say
“I’m an old man”
he knew he had 20 more
years … maybe more
but each year now
was more unlikely
and accepting that
allowed him to understand
the word he used
“old”
he liked that
liked to think that
and say it out loud
sometimes
in many ways he still felt
young
his mind and his attitude
were as flexible and comfortable
as they’d ever been
more so actually
but the years
though unreal in his dreams
he believed in them
like the hands on the atomic
clock
which reset itself
to a reality that commerce
and politics
and sometimes he
marched to
he believed in the years
and in their reality
beyond himself
and he measured himself
and his future by them
and he liked to say
“I’m an old man”