poem for my father-in-law
Life Sneaks Up on You
Life sneaks up on you,
You're not thinking about it,
You turn around,
And your kids are grown,
Your kids, in fact, have grandchildren,
And they are telling YOU
what to do,
You wouldn't listen to them,
except you're having trouble
getting out of your chair,
Your neck is in a 24-hour brace,
And they can't figure out how to cure the infection
That sends you running to the bathroom,
Just yesterday, you took your wife
on a Caribbean cruise,
Drove out of state for family weddings,
Walked 2 miles when you felt like it,
Now, there are more pills to take
than you can remember,
Your body aches from constant pain,
You leave the house with a diaper on,
Your friends and siblings
Disappear,
One by one, they desert you,
You spend more time at the funeral home
than you do in your own living room,
Inside, you feel like the same young man
who years ago, returned from the war,
married the pretty young girl you loved,
and started your own home,
Hopes and dreams melt into
days gone by,
You turn around
And the years are gone,
You have no idea how this happened,
Yet, in everything, there is a season,
a time for every purpose under heaven,
the less time we have, the more we value it,
' the more precious the hours we are given.
And also
And a silent man is he;
But he summons a smile as well as he can
Whenever he meets with me.
The sign we make with a silent shake
That speaks of the days gone byâ
Like men who meet at a funeralâ
My father-in-law and I.
My father-in-law is a sober man
(And a virtuous man, I think);
But we spare a shilling whenever we can,
And we both drop in for a drink.
Our pints they fill, and we say, "Ah, well!"
With the sound of the world-old sighâ
Like the drink that comes after a funeralâ
My father-in-law and I.
My father-in-law is a kindly manâ
A domestic man is he.
He tries to look cheerful as well as he can
Whenever he meets with me.
But we stand and think till the second drink
In a silence that might imply
That we'd both get over a funeral,
My father-in-law and I.