When I was 9
I had a receding hairline
thought I would be
as bald as a coot come 10
but now I have the exact same hairline
as then
and the hair’s still all there
even more curly and long.
When I was 9
I found my first white hair.
Well...that’s ok
all us Dempseys are that way
at a young age
(beating old age at its own game)
the “badger effect”
we all call it and laugh.
So the advent of white hair is
neither here nor there.
When I was 9
I never thought that there’d come a someday
when I would look
at myself that day
(from this so far away)
but hey that’s cool
I’m still(I guess) that same old
young old fool.
* * * * * * * *
THAT WAS THEN...THIS IS NOW...OW!
In the middle
of a power cut
petrified little boy
watches his candle
flicker the shadows
that leap into wolves
& other assorted monsters
snarl across the wall.
He laughs
at the memory
of his self
then
worrying now about
keeping the wolf from the door
(being forever in the red)
& what the big bad bank manager
will say
the next day!
How he longs
for the days
when all he had to worry about
was the power of his
imagination.
Dónall Dempsey
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/old-young-fool-that-was-then-this-is-now-ow-for-linda-t/
