Age
written by: Fred Budin
As the nights grow cold and days grow dim,
I look back behind, to see where I have been,
the children I have had the joy and the tears,
the women I loved, the men I have feared,
the places I have been the sights I have seen,
the history I have caused, that might never have been,
the roads I have traveled, the curves and bumps,
the beatings endured, the bruises and lumps,
the warm summer nights of love and romance,
the fear and the dread, of that first high school dance,
the childhood games the laughter and fun,
the battles I have lost, and the wars I have won,
the misery and pain, the blood I have bled,
it is all now behind, there is nothing ahead,
no more rivers to cross or mountains to climb,
the music is gone, the bells do not chime,
no more will I dance the night all away,
no more will I see a bright summer’s day,
no more do I walk, upright and tall,
now I just stumble and try not to fall,
the pain that I feel will not go away,
my strength is all gone there is nothing to say,
I look out my window and watch a young child,
as he runs and he skips and he plays oh so wild,
and I long for those days which will never return,
Yet so deep in my heart a small light still burns,
to be that young child and dance in the sun,
to laugh and to skip, to jump and to run,
now all that is ahead, is a great final sleep,
and no long will I feel this pain oh so deep,
but do not shed a tear or breathe a deep sigh,
remember the times when you saw me so high,
on top of the mountain on top of the crest,
now it is all gone and at long-last I can rest.
I long for that sleep so quiet so peaceful,
to wash away the pain like the rains of last April,
which washed all the snow from the long winter bleak,
and filled all the streams and rivers and creek,
and when I am gone and you hear a child sing,
remember my smile and my laughter in spring,
and the road I did travel and the paths I did pave,
for all those paths just led to my……………. grave.
