20160503 (tempus dormit)

This could easily have been a picture of me sleeping in Jean's Lazyboy when I was on the mend with a broken arm back in 2000.  Except it would have been our cat Chloe on my chest.

It’s not that I’m lazy, honest,

I’m not. But I’ve noticed things

Are getting harder to do than I 

Recall. Walking around the block

Used to be a fairly spirited romp

That I could accomplish easily,

Especially without strain as I 

Ascended West 29th from Clinton

To Franklin (an elevation of maybe

Twelve feet). But this morning

Like so many other mornings

Lately I end up walking very

Slowly and still getting winded

Before I’m halfway up. I can

Feel what I describe as lactic

Buildup in my legs (I have no

Idea that’s what it is. I liken it

To the feeling in your muscles

When you have reached your

Limit in running or climbing).

I joke to passersby, “I used to

Wonder why old guys walked

So slow. I don’t wonder anymore.”

Tasks around the house are

Piling up. I’ve pretty much

Given up restoration jobs like

Scraping old paint off woodwork,

Inside or out. I’m trying to 

Connive myself into pulling some

Weeds which have popped up all

Over this spring, growing in

Places where you’d think no 

Seed could grab hold. In the 

Morning I can tell whether I

Will accomplish anything just

By the fuzz in my head as I rise

From the sheets. More than once

Have I given up right there, kicked

Off the slippers I had just scuffed

My feet into, told mewing Sophia,

“No, babes, it’s too early,” crawled 

Back under the covers, and let her

Re-nestle in the crook of my left

Arm. Course, if Loki is moving

About, burrowing under until he

Can lick my face, I know I’ve got

To get up. Licking my face is like

Asking me, “Hey, Big Guy, you 

Want the puddle here on the floor

Or out in the yard?” No use arguing

With reasoning like that, so today

I got up to let him, “Pee the tree,”

As we call it. If I’m more awake 

I’ll make breffies after feeding the

Dependents, then watch Democracy

Now! with Loki curled up in my lap.

Despite Amy Goodman’s monotone

I may stay awake to the end of the

Show, when I’ll decide a nap is in

Order. If I tested my blood sugar

Before I ate I should test again 

After two hours. There’s no staying

Awake that long. I hit the couch

And typically nap past the mark.

Sometimes after the nap I’ll feel

Pretty good and set about my desk

Work (One day it will be clear, I

Promise). Sometimes I’ll find I

Have fallen asleep at the desk 

And it’s already past three. Now

I’ve got to walk the pooch, sensing

His need from the mania that

Follows, “Loki want to walk?”

I am so grateful these two

Continue to let me live here with

Them, now that I’ve calmed

Down so dramatically. I mean

It would take a fairly decrepit

Senior to outnap a ten-year-old

Dog and four-year-old cat.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016