A Sign of the Times
My hands once weighed upon your shoulder
unconsciously demonstrating I am in control
Now you are kept at a steadying arm’s length
keeping me in balance to ensure I don’t fall
My thoughts like breath in unlabelled parcels
Now are filtered to avoid reality’s engagement
Dreams of past triumphs held in vanity’s vaults
Revisited scenes held close in confinement
Falsely the thoughts of fellow travellers invade
Puncturing my chosen solitude and tranquillity
Disturbing my daydreams and with their advice
they steal my independence and my dignity
Once the leader now just a critical observer
I was living each day with careless abandon
But I lost the rhyme when I heard them say
“Take the car keys away from grandfather”
copyright Michael King