leaving

When I turned 80 (it fair give me a turn)

I planned to give me a party (best laid plans)

No one could come (no one I knew well)

Well

You can make new friends (but you can’t make old ones)

So

Mohammed and the mountain (I must look that up)

I went to them

Jo left before I got there

I stayed with Agnes

And then Virginia

And Phyllis had a party for me

Not easy (never easy)

Not as young as I was (was I ever?)

Nerves catching (contagious)

Schedules and deadlines

Planes buses taxis trains (contiguous)

Now

Jo left before I got there

Agnes left last week

Virginia is in and out

Phyllis is in the departure lounge

And I (of ladies most deject and wretched)

Am left behind

I’m going to be late

time passes

So do people.

Bill Wylie would have been 92 today. He would never have been 92.

Will I?