It's Not a Good Time to Be Eighty
It’s not a good time to be eighty My wife said in a voice soft and sweet Having recently had my eightieth birthday My heart just skipped a beat “Whatever do you mean, my dear?” I asked, with bated breath She said some famous octogenarians Have recently met their death Pete Rose prompted her observation He had his last time up to bat Kris Kristofferson had died a few days before Really hurt when I heard that It always catches our attention When we hear a famous person died A reminder of our mortality That cannot be denied Of course, it is more intense and painful When we lose a loved one or close friend But we don’t usually think about How and when our own life will end There is something about turning eighty, though That brings the process close to home We’ve surpassed our life expectancy Our flight is approaching the landing zone Still, death isn’t something that we dwell on But it no longer seems surreal Obituaries of younger...