An Old Man’s Lament

When I was born
The world was waiting there for me
To smell, to touch, to taste, to see.
What wonders filled my little eyes.
Sounds and sights I'd never heard or seen.
I crawled, I stood on wobbly legs,
I fell, I walked, I ran,
I babbled, spoke,
I learned to read, I learned to write.

Then new wonders appeared before my eyes.
The Milkman in the early morn,
The Iceman with his blocks of ice,
The Organ Grinder and his dancing Monk,
The candies for our little store,
The sizzling buns with slabs of meat,
The hungry nurses with their dancing feet,
The midnight drive when work was done.
My days were filled with joy and fun.

The world was very good to me.
The years rolled by, and I became a man.
The girls I knew were pretty and bright.
I worked by day and loved by night.
I married late but married well.
Our children flourished and theirs did too.

For them, the world was bright and new,
Filled with wonders I neither knew nor learned:
I-Phone, Zoom, Instagram.
Somehow, the world had passed me by.
The Milkman and the Iceman had long since gone.
The Organ Grinder and his Monkey, too,
Were no longer there.

Corona filled the empty space.
Old in body, young in heart,
We vowed to never let it win.
The Nazis could not kill my wife.
This Virus, too, must spare my life.

So here we sit, alone, and wait
To reap the wonder of our fate.