When I was 9 <br />I had a receding hairline <br /> <br />thought I would be <br />as bald as a coot come 10 <br /> <br />but now I have the exact same hairline <br />as then <br /> <br />and the hair’s still all there <br />even more curly and long. <br /> <br />When I was 9 <br />I found my first white hair. <br /> <br />Well...that’s ok <br /> <br />all us Dempseys are that way <br />at a young age <br />(beating old age at its own game) <br /> <br />the “badger effect” <br />we all call it and laugh. <br /> <br />So the advent of white hair is <br />neither here nor there. <br /> <br />When I was 9 <br />I never thought that there’d come a someday <br /> <br />when I would look <br />at myself that day <br /> <br />(from this so far away) <br /> <br />but hey that’s cool <br /> <br />I’m still(I guess) that same old <br /> young old fool. <br /> <br /> <br />* * * * * * * * <br /> <br />THAT WAS THEN...THIS IS NOW...OW! <br /> <br />In the middle <br />of a power cut <br /> <br />petrified little boy <br /> <br />watches his candle <br />flicker the shadows <br /> <br />that leap into wolves <br />& other assorted monsters <br /> <br />snarl across the wall. <br /> <br />He laughs <br />at the memory <br />of his self <br />then <br /> <br />worrying now about <br />keeping the wolf from the door <br /> <br />(being forever in the red) <br /> <br />& what the big bad bank manager <br />will say <br />the next day! <br /> <br />How he longs <br />for the days <br /> <br />when all he had to worry about <br />was the power of his <br /> <br />imagination.<br /><br />Dónall Dempsey<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/old-young-fool-that-was-then-this-is-now-ow-for-linda-t/
