A Cure for Old Age

 

 

Its ravages are coming sooner

For the apparent young,

They no longer laugh at the old

Who are still fairly strong.

 

Medical personnel are concerned

With diabetes and cancer,

Add to these the problem of asthma

And of high blood pressure.

 

Non-communicable diseases

Or NCDs, they call them,

And these illnesses during COVID-19

Caused severe problems.

 

Several people with NCDs

Died after contracting COVID-19,

It might have been worse than this

Were it not for the vaccine.

 

 

This view is held by some

Though many feel otherwise,

Many lauded the vaccine programme

While for others it was despised.

 

There was another feature:

Many in their nineties died,

The prospect of becoming centenarians

Was suddenly denied.

 

This leads me to the title

That is the subject of this poem,

A cure for old age, I am begging,

To ease my present problem.

 

Seven decades I have reached,

Not without the aches and pains,

Old age, they say, is a brute,

It is certainly not a game.

 

 

My father passed at eighty-seven,

My mother at ninety-two,

I wish for a cure before I pass,

My friend, how about you?

 

At least to see one great-grand

Would be my desired wish,

And if possible, maybe two or three,

Four I would really relish.

 

Oh, how I would like a cure

For this old age problem of mine

And yours too, if you are old,

Right now, in our time.

 

 

So, Docs, I am begging you,

Find a cure for old age

And I do not mean the grim reaper,

Find it before this stage.

 

I know there is a cure

But that will come with death,

This is for the born-again believers

When in Jesus they rest.

 

Find that cell and switch it off

That causes old age to come

So that I could live a long, long time

And see my great grandson.

 

Stewart Russell © September 5, 2023

 

No More COVID

 

 

I dreamt the all clear was given

And COVID was no more,

Once again faces were exposed

And there was rejoicing galore.

 

Now we could drop our guard

And hug and kiss again,

Bajans went out and did business

Whether it was sun or rain.

 

People were so much nicer

And lent one another a helping hand

And Barbados became a nation

Where everybody was ‘fam’.

 

We gave people a lift in our car

Where before we could not

For fear that COVID would get us,

O we went through quite a lot.

 

The churches became full

Like they weren’t in a long while

And just simply being nice

Became the Barbadian lifestyle.

 

The economy picked up

And boy, it really took off

And everything looked radiant

Gone was the COVID dross.

 

 

The vegetation looked greener

And the air was quite refreshed

And people moved with one purpose

And that was to do their best.

 

It was so like heaven on earth

It was as if the Lord had come back,

We all spoke nicely to one another

And gone was the silly flack.

 

No vagrants were on the street

There was not a single one,

Everybody engaged in usefulness

Every single one was gone.

 

There was no such thing as the flu

COVID or otherwise,

And no one, I mean no one

Had to walk around in disguise.

 

There was still washing of hands,

After all that was hygiene

But we no longer had to be quarantine

Or even get a vaccine.

 

 

Tourists galore were coming

And the cruise ships too

And airlines too many to mention

Frequently came into view.

 

“This is the life,” I kept on saying

When suddenly it all changed,

I was lying on the floor

And the dream was out of range.

 

I tried to go back to sleep

So that I could dream some more

And so that I would not fall again

I remained there on the floor.

 

If an all clear had been given

It was not for the COVID storm

So, continue to adhere to the protocols

Until we are back to the norm.

 

Stewart Russell © March 2, 2021