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Open Poetry #42
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I am 62 and
| Open Poetry #42 |
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I am 62 and |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa 
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I AM 62 AND 24 June 2008 I am 62 and - please note “and” not “but” - it is important – as I was saying, I am 62 and I will race anyone a quarter my age - a third if old fogeys of 21 can accept the challenge – up a flight of stairs two at a time - three if they are not too steep. Of course I will possibly - OK, probably – be beaten every time, BUT (yes, this was a “but”) I will be close behind - OK, fairly close behind – and I will finish the race and I will be second and I will be in the race, racing and what is more, I won’t be out of breath. - Owl |
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| © Copyright 2008 Diana van den Berg - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
I've got to share an "old" poem of mine with you someday, m'friend...because his spirit is so much in keeping with yours...  This brought a wonderful smile!!! |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Giggles, Karilea, and thank you. Please post it soon. I am looking forward to reading it. - Owl |
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passing shadows Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577displaced |
you go girl  |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
 Dixie, with you, shouting for me at the bottom (or top) of the steps,  perhaps I may just win a race with at least one of my challengers! - Owl [This message has been edited by OwlSA (06-24-2008 10:26 AM).] |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
You are a bundle of positive energy! I'll be two steps behind you  but only because I have bad heart valves! I can still 'run circles' around some half my age..BTW, which=yours! Let's show them how to be vibrant 'oldies' but goodies! |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Kacy, happy giggles! Yes, let's show 'em!  - Owl |
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graeshine2006 Member
since 2008-06-03
Posts 368The Prairie Lands, USA |
Yes - that "and" and not "but" is very important. I am 40. In 22 years, if I'm as positive as you, life will be a delight. Loved it! |
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TinaTrivett Senior Member
since 2006-07-15
Posts 569 |
Is it your Bday? I figured you for a Cancer..  Nice write... |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Big smiles, Debby. I hope that will be the case for you. No, Tina, it isn't my birthday for a long while yet. I am a Scorpio. Smiles. - Owl |
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2islander2 Member Ascendant
since 2008-03-12
Posts 6825by the sea |
Thank you Owl for sharing this revigorating poem...you are someone people sure like to follow, The health is what matters, with that you can be happy.... all you said made me think of a guy I met in China and at 52 run in the stairs (3 by 3) and climb like a young man... Have a nice day yann |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
OMG, I am also a Scorpio!!! Now I'm understanding our nearly instant natural 'sister' connection! |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Thanks, Yann for your kind comments. I'm glad I could bring back what was obviously a happy memory. Happy sisterly smiles, Kacy! Yes, that and a lot of other things. - Owl |
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JamesMichael Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336Kapolei, Hawaii, USA |
Nice...James |
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Margherita Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236Eternity |
Diana, this is so cute! Running up the stairs is a must for me too, as if I had to prove myself that I am still fit, BUT ... so sorry to admit that OK I run upstairs with (apparent) lightness ( ), but unlike you I arrive out of breath (but happy!).Delightful write! Love, Margherita |
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XGarapanX Senior Member
since 2008-06-19
Posts 1435Antarctica |
Ack! I got outta breath reading it, and I'm a runner. ·´~`·»Garapan«·´~`· |
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Robert E. Jordan Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-25
Posts 8541Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
There you go OwlSA, This is great. It sounds like me at seventy-one. My son almost beat me up, climbing the hills of Upper Manhattan yesterday, but I kept up. Pant-pant. Bobby |
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Richy Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 3050 |
When I get older running the stairs Many years from now Will you still be sending me a valentine Birthday greetings, bottle of wine? If I still write you plenty of poems And send them all to you Will you still need me, will you still feed me When I'm sixty-two? You can knit a sweater by the fireside Sunday mornings go for a ride Many years later when we’re still young I’ll always think of you Will you still write me Will you delight me When I’m sixty-two? |
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KeyLimeSorbet Member
since 2008-03-05
Posts 74Colorado |
enjoyed :-) |
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Susan Caldwell Member Rara Avis
since 2002-12-27
Posts 8348Florida |
I'll do it! There better be refreshments at the top of the staircase...I like positive reinforcements... Lets go backpacking across Europe! "too bad ignorance isn't painful" |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Oops! I have just re-read the responses and with regard my response to Kacy's, I think I could have been sorely misunderstood by anyone reading this. Just to clarify, Kacy said: OMG, I am also a Scorpio!!! Now I'm understanding our nearly instant natural 'sister' connection! and I said: Happy sisterly smiles, Kacy! Yes, that and a lot of other things. What I didn't mean is "happy sisterly smiles and a lot of other things" (in case anyone thought there was anything weird about that). What I DID mean was "that" (being our birthdays being in the same month) and "a lot of other things" (such as a mutual interest in horses, and righting socio-economic wrongs) have contributed to our "nearly instant 'sisterly' connection. James, thank you. Thanks, Margherita. "Happy" is more important than not being out of breath! Giggles, Garapan, at your getting out of breath reading it and the fact that you are a runner! Thanks for the cheering from the crowds, Bobby! Glad you kept up with your son, panting or not! Richy, as always, I loved your poem! That line, "When I am sixty-two" - or the "When I am" part, with a different age or words or something, reminded me of something very well known that I know I am supposed to remember, but for the life of me, I can't - it's a song or a poem or something. Do you know what it is? Aha! Is your birthday on 14 February? Or were you meaning valentine greetings and birthday greetings separately? I hadn't met you yet this valentine's day, but won't forget you next year! I'd love to send you a bottle of wine, especially if I can share it with you (but I don't have more than 2 glasses if I am driving, especially if I have to drive over the Atlantic Ocean!) and especially if you keep writing me poems! I haven't knitted much in my life - not being the domesticated kind of owl - but I must admit that I really did enjoy the little knitting I did when my children were small. And those Sunday morning rides? - In a car would be nice - on a motor bike would be more fun, as long as I am on the back and not the front - but best of all would be on horseback. Of course I'll still write you, and I hope I'll delight you when you are sixty-two. Some of my friends and ex-colleagues tell me that they will have to shoot me to get me dead! Once when it was imperative to the owner of a certain house (when I was an estate agent - up to the end of last year) that we get inside to see it (no clients with us, just estate agents), the only one willing and able to climb through quite a high window - in spite of being the oldest one there and some of them in their twenties - was - guess who! Unbeknown to me, they took a photo of me doing so, and I am proud to say that I did it in a most ladylike way, in spite of being in a dress that day and the rim of the window being very sharp metal. Thank you KeyLimeSorbet. Glad you did. YES, Susan. Let's backpack across Europe! Can I bring my cat and my dog with me? Loved your joke about the refreshments at the top of the stairs. - Owl |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Diana dear, you are forever young. You reminded me of this poem I wrote when I was about your age I am too young to be so old Feeble is not written on my plan, for I feel like dancing and lifting heavy objects. What is that rush of air that quiets around me when I do? It frightens me, for you see I am too young to be so old. When did my children become almost middle aged? They are like a doctor holding the pulse of my moving vibrant youth and shaking their heads with the look that I understand as the turn around upside down time of changing places. Click, and touch the minute now in color, and add a bit of truth I tell my mirror, and in sudden realize the eyes have crinkled and blue veins streak the back of hand. There is a trick to getting older for as the body goes so do the eyes and the soft blur of youth is what I see. Feeble is not written on my plan, for I feel like dancing and lifting heavy objects. I do both well. But, I hear the rush of air that quiets around me when I do and it frightens me, for you see I am too young to be so old. ______ |
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Magnus
since 2001-10-10
Posts 14135South Carolina, USA |
we both are too young to be old....my bday was the 14th... |
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Richy Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 3050 |
 My Dear Diana, The title of your poem reminded me of a classic Beatles song called, “When I’m 64.” So I took the lyrics of that song and just tweaked it a bit here and there for my reply to your wonderful poem. Here are the lyrics to that song: When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now, Will you still be sending me a Valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine? If I'd been out 'till quarter to three, would you lock the door? Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I'm sixty-four? Hmm mmm mmmh. You'll be older, too. Aaah, and if you say the word, I could stay with you. I could be handy, mending a fuse, when your lights have gone. You can knit a sweater by the fireside, Sunday mornings, go for a ride. Doing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more? Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty four? Every summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight if it's not to dear. We shall scrimp and save. Ah, grandchildren on your knee, Vera, Chuck, and Dave. Send me a postcard, drop me a line stating point of view. Indicate precisely what you mean to say, yours sincerely wasting away. Give me your answer, fill in a form, mine forever more. Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty four? Now that doesn’t mean I’m not going to hold you to that bottle of wine, and that Sunday morning horseback ride for two with you on the back holding on tight of course. I still have a few more years before I reach 62, but I only hope I’m as fun and lively as you are right now. You are a wonderful spirit you know. Oh and by the way, me and Sir Paul in the picture above share the same birth date. |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Thank you Martie. I love your poem and its Martie depth of thinking. Lovely to see you. Happy Birthday Magnus for the 14th! Was it Sweet 16 or 21? Oh, of course, Richy! The Beatles! How apt! They were the absolute rage when I was young! I could hear the line, but didn't remember the rest of the lyrics! Thank you for typing out all the lyrics. Hey! I see you left out the bit in your poem to me of mending the fuse when my lights were gone!!!  However, you are forgiven. Thanks for the lovely photo of them on the cover of Life. Now, Paul McCartney may be famous, but our Richy is even more famous and I can prove it! It will be easier and quicker to find out Richy's birthday than Paul McCartney's. There is somewhere on PIP with birthdays, and Paul McCartney's won't be there! So you want me to work to find out your birthday. Well, I am always up to a challenge (well, depending on the challenge ). Detective Diana off to find out Richy's birthday.- Owl |
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Misty Lilacs Senior Member
since 2005-11-15
Posts 1060White Birch Forest |
I too am 62 and I can barely walk but I promise I will be at the bottom cheering you on. And when I do reach the top, and I will in time, out of breath and barely able to move, I hope you will cheer me on for reaching your goal! |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Of course, of course, of course! Misty Lilacs (lovely name) of White Birch Forest (wonderful location whether fact or fiction!), you will deserve the cheering far, far more than I will. Huuuuuuuuuge smiles Here is me, cheering you on! - Owl |
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kaile
since 2000-02-06
Posts 5146singapore |
i am 28 and am already feeling my stamina slip (oops). but i am determined to feel young. LOL at your upbeat piece! |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Henk, I am laughing happily at your fun response. I wish I knew what my secret to such an abundance of health and energy is - I would love to cut chunks off and dish them out to everyone who needs them. They'd probably grow back again, but even if they didn't I'd still have enough health and energy to sustain an army. - Owl |
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Ringo
since 2003-02-20
Posts 3684Saluting with misty eyes |
I am 20 years your junior, and more than likely could not come as close to staying even as you could, G-d love ya... Great write. I love the little interjections (or would that be conjunctions? lol) What would you attempt to do...if you knew you could not fail?. |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Thanks Ringo! Well, at least you would come second in the race! You were right the first time, the word is "interjections'. - Owl |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
Well, Diana, I am also 62 and I accept your challenge of a race up the stairs. Not only will I race you, I will assure you that you will lead the whole way and win. I wouldn't give up that view for anything! |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Naughty, naughty Balladeer! - Owl |
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The Lady Member Rara Avis
since 2005-12-26
Posts 7634The Southwest |
Diana, I would be willing to bet you would beat the lot of us. Well done my friend. |
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OwlSA Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347Durban, South Africa |
Smiles Kate, for what you said and to see you back again. Thank you for both. - Owl |
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