Staying active

'Joy of ageing' poetry competition runner-up Joe Rogers:

My poem attempts to describe some of the joys of ageing such as time to walk the dog and enjoy the countryside while reminiscing over the past and of how times have changed - not always for the better.

The Joy of Ageing.      
(Time to think and walk the dog)

Shadowed by the sinking sun we wander the well-worn ways
Of a frost-furrowed fun field through a hint of hang-gliding haze.
By a gorse-spangled hedgerow —  oh‚ to leap through the spring-scented air
Going back to the neighs and whinnies when horses were yoked to plough-shares.

Collar collects sedge and thistle‚ tongue lolls out of his jaws
He calmly collapses at my whistle‚ hairy old head on his paws.
The tail takes the trophy — sweeping leaves on a windy day
The joy his very nearness brings keeps all other cares at bay.

Then a memory-maddened mind recoils from a bout of yappiness
When an ominous cumulonimbus obscures the belching sky
A rainbow reflects falling rain and gloom gives way to happiness
As crowds of crows loud raucous caws claw the cumulus clouds going by.

Wisps of cirrus — the sun goes down on the steaming dung-soaked earth
Where demon reapers in combine-harvesters demonstrate with mirth
The end of so many hedgerows‚ otters gone from the rivers now
And the days are sadly numbered for the horses and the plough.

Master thinks of horses names as he and his dog head  home
Samson‚ George and Delilah perhaps while Mutley thinks of a bone.
Is that a spectre towards evening‚ out there where the little birds trill…
Why it’s Samson‚ George and Delilah coming up over the hill!

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