Aging opus 897
| 19 July 2026 1738 Hours | | Aging, Communication, Custom, Diet, History, Mortality, Philosophy, Psychology |
It is almost July and the planet is ever-hotter.
I have been warning people for years.
I am aging and walking slower now.
I used to hike and had to wait for the others.
I farmed endlessly and collected huge bags of field rocks
For my hand-carved pieces I distributed to others.
I hiked across my thousands of acres, loving every inch.
I went to Farmers Markets and conferences.
I was free, a very mobile thinking organism.
Now I have aged and death is catching up.
I woke today at 3 AM and began to think about where I am.
My body hampers my former freedom,
But I realize I am still free and must glory in that.
I am free to eat what I want, when I want--
I am forever making sure it is healthy and balanced--
But if I wish to mix Ranch with Italian on the same lettuce,
I am able to do such, completely freely.
If I wish to mix a slug of Anise with Sake,
No one is there to hassle or judge.
I can feed my Betta fish at 10 or 3--they still respond.
I can determine that my doctor's appointments
Are only in the afternoon.
I can purchase a fulgurite on eBay when I wish.
I am able to sign a petition and mail it at will.
I can go out and sit by my pond when I wish.
I am able to ask my helper, Jessie, to pick up milk when I need.
I talk with my son when he calls on his way to work.
I can speak out when I did not dare before.
I can listen to Mongolian Throat Music--
It is there for me to choose, and no one stops me.
I am also able to write any poem and publish it whenever.
I am free or is this just a momentary illusion?
So, I hold this all in reverence and realize its specialness.
Soon will come a time when none of these freedoms will remain.
I shall be bodily-helpless, at the constant whims of others.
I will become more useless as a thinking human being.
That is why now, instead of grumbling about my declining situation,
I rejoice for these few last free years of life.
Sometime this 'freedom' will all end,
And I shall be a prisoner in my own body.
However, may my mind remain free to the end.