Golden Days

Advice I give is good more than a year.
I make soup from a raindrop and a smile;
My stories bring both laughter and a tear,
And both of them repeat after a while.

My beard and mustache used to be dark red,
But now they’re mostly white and silver-gray.
My hair no longer covers my whole head;
What’s left seems like it wants to fade away.

I used to spend my days working around,
And now I spend them sitting on my grass!
I spoke and sang with such a mellow sound,
And now I sneeze and cough and pass some gas…

Days -- they flitter past in merely minutes,
Far fewer up ahead than left behind.
Golden Days are here with all their limits:
‘Long as I get to live them, I don’t mind!

Mick McKellar
December 2023