For Just a Little While

Recently some wonderful friends came for a visit. I have written about the Pedersens in other poems. I have written a limerick for all of their children and a couple for Ron and Sue. As they were gathering their things to take out to the car, Analia mentioned that since it was such a long trip they might need to use the bathroom before they go. That just shows you how comfortable you can get when you have known people for 40 years. As they were leaving, Sue surprised me by asking if I would write a poem for her about aging and how as we age some of the things we found difficult to do as children now become increasingly difficult to do now. So this poem is my attempt at answering her request.

Gale L. Wolfenbarger
11 September 2021

For Just a Little While

When I was just a little boy my mother always said
The closet is the place for clothes and not upon the bed.

Pick up your toys and clean your room as though I didn’t know
And before each trip she always asked if I didn’t have to go.

My mother said so many things when I was just a child
You’d think she thought without her there I would be running wild.

There is one thing she always said I remember to this day.
This thing she said, each day I live, try always to obey.

Be kind to all you meet and try to make them smile
We only live upon the earth for just a little while.

As a child I found it difficult to bend and tie my shoes.
And in those days I’d throw a fit if a game I chanced to lose.

And though not for lack of trying or on her I put the blame,
I found it oh so difficult to learn to spell my name.

Mother was a patient soul and came in time of need
To help me as I struggled so, learning how to read.

Now years have passed so swiftly and I have surely grown
I have a wife who cares for me and children of my own.

But with the passing years I find all things have come around,
As my body, once so able, with sorrow I have found.

It’s not so easy for me, though often I would choose,
To bend and do a simple thing like tying up my shoes.

And as my mind, once so very keen as I am quick to claim,
Struggles with a simple task like spelling out my name.

My eyes with reading glasses now grow weaker as I age,
I find I need a looking glass to read the printed page.

And yes before each trip, my sweetheart with eyes aglow
Gently asks me one more time if I do not need to go.

Yes, I have learned as time has passed that life can be a trial.
Mother was right that we all are here for just a little while.

Gale L. Wolfenbarger
11 September 2021