Men Shedding

Home Post and Index

men shedding

he dies

a little every day

by the things he used to do

from digging

up the veggie garden

to tying up a shoe

while his children

tell him constantly

to behave and not to stew

he remembers

in his childhood days

of reaching for the sky

that burst

of first excitement

with each new thing that he would try

but now he’s brought

back down to earth

as the old tasks pass him by

and soon everything

that he once could do

he just can’t do again

and he’ll wake up

one sad morning

the final task upon his brain

then, sad to say,

he forgets that too,

it’ll be his last refrain

Richard Scutter 4 July 2010

Note …

This poem was motivated as a response to Geoff Page’s poem Cool Girls (from his book Human Interest) … woman and beauty transferring to men and tasks.

… written on independence day 2010 … long live independence day … let’s celebrate the things we can do … however small!