Old Friends

Old Friends,
Old Friends
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends.
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
On the high shoes
Of the old friends.

Old friends,
Winter companions,
The old men
Lost in their overcoats,
Waiting for the sunset.
The sounds of the city,
sifting through the trees,
Settle like dust
On the shoulders
Of the old friends.

Can you imagine us
Years from today,
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy.

Old friends,
Memory brushes the same years.
Silently sharing the same fear...

by Paul Simon

Well not quite 70 but still terribly strange to be turning 52 next month.

On New Years Day I wrote I wanted to slow down and make more time for friends. It is still a work in progress but still a worthy goal.

Facebook has been a good tool to use to catch up with some old friends. About 30 people from what seems like another lifetime got together one Sunday in August. It was great fun to see old friends from childhood and high school days. One of the highlight of the day was getting to see and speak with Mr. Tony Marino, who is the father of 4 of my childhood friends. Tony was and remains a vibrant person, well worth the time to stop and visit with. Pull up a chair.

Let's all take more time to pull up a chair and sit a spell with friends.

Bookends Theme
Time it was,
And what a time it was,
It was...
A time of innocence,
A time of confidences.
Long ago ... it must be...
I have a photograph.
Preserve your memories;
They're all that's left you.

By
Paul Simon