Hello Darkness, my old friend

The corners yellow. The temples gray. The children are adults now. It’s another day.

The past is always gone. The future may not come.

You’re older but you’re wiser,

Heart still beating like a drum.

What do you want?

A Hero Cookie?

What do you want?

A pat on the back?

What do you want?

A Hero Biscuit?

Are you waiting to see your name

Engraved upon a plaque?

And just like that, a new song. I noticed it was darker when I woke today, today being September 1. For many years poets have anthropomorphized the month of September into a metaphor for life. But here I am at 64, heart still beating, death cheated for another year, marching forward.

The other day my wife and I were in the car, and I asked her to put on one of my playlists, the modern mixtape. She remarked, why are all these songs so dark and gloomy? So sad?

And the only answer I could come up with was this. That is what I felt like. My melancholy keeps me company. it’s not like I revel in sadness, but those minor chords, they get to me, and they get me. Hello darkness, my old friend.

But don’t worry. I am healthier and happier than I have ever been since my days of glory, when all I thought about was myself. I can hear my wife’s voice in my head whispering, “You always think of yourself.”

True. And yes, the truth does hurt. But I know I have improved. I am not as insensitive ( autocorrected to dentures), or as “dense” asI can be, a nickname I have earned. The day is just beginning, and there is plenty more sunshine ahead.

If the weather gets hot today, and I hope it does, I will crawl out of my air-conditioned nightmare, and go to the beach with the woman I love more every day. Because that is something you get as you grow older. You get more appreciative of what you have. The gifts you are blessed with, the people in your life that bring a smile to your face.

Oh life.

It’s nothing but living.

I’m having a time.

Living mine.

Life is fine.

Jimmy Lunceford.