"My Old Age"

My Old Age
It’s the end of the rainbow
My heaven if you will, (I won’t)
Why work hard all your life?
Why do more than you need to?

I can’t think of a greater reward for a life well lived -
Certainly not seventy-two virgins: how shallow, how temporary, how physical, how limited -
Than to grow old with someone

I think that is a goal worth striving for
Certainly not easy, but the work makes a lot more sense than avoiding ‘sins’
I think that’s a better reason to live a good life than fear of ‘hellfire’

To pass conspiratorial winks to others
To walk outside each morning and feed the birds like my grandfather
To complain and complain and enjoy and enjoy
To have billions of reasons for that smile to keep crossing your face
To be that old couple, slow dancing –
So close together, with both their bodies and their movement –
That they seem like one