ALL IS NOT GOLDEN IN THE FINAL GOLDEN YEARS Barely awake during the middle of the night, listening

to great grandmas oxygen concentrator, raspy wheezing coughing from years of smoking and recent COPD ? In your hearts mind what do you feel and see? Relates to our less than healthy global environment, tobacco advertising, and domestic economy in naive chutzpah my mind asks Is this really the culminating result of consumption? While listening to the rhythmic respirator like background noise, my over burdened imagination over tasks You know when upon your overactive mind begins to creep And you just want to go back to sleep Choking, wheezing, gasping, not exactly the downy comforter you want to cover your consciousness at night, and suppress the horror of impending transition when her soul would anew take flight So how do we deal with such a sleepless night ? You could open your iBook, notebook, 3G phone, twitter in a dither, compose poetry, rhymes Read Google News or the NY Times Lest the mind be still, theres so many things to think of you see Including a nice Kosher fantasy You never know what might arise Your mind is a never ending source of surprise Desires burning While the digestive gases in the kishkes are churning Cover your gluteals with a heavy blanket of the finest airtight fleece For surely its a matter of time till esoteric gases go seeking release Keep them distant from your wifes nares, while immersed in the descending mists of twilight sleep and elation

Because that which is smelt and dealt can result in horrendous verbal, maybe a little physical conflagration In case this purports of humorous fun Get ready to arise instantly and run When youre old and the most in need Thats when all the vampires come out to feed You wouldnt think at first that this is the norm But they come in all different sizes, shapes, and forms Their promises with quasi erotic delight can make you quiver Just wait until the time comes when they have to deliver It may seem up the end a little cruel But by then who cares when youre an old doddering dribbling fool You can play the part Have a big belly laugh and exude a really wet drippy fart Youll think how hard you work and all the money you once did earn As you develop a nasty rectal itch, rash or diaper burn If you dont move or cry A sore can easy develop into a decubti If its too hard to take, this black humor that makes you laugh Remember after a hip fracture theres always a chance at pneumonia and MRSA Staph Dr Brindley, I want you to know, I remember your comment that pneumonia is not really a bad way to go.

Zombie HMO care in nursing homes Geriatric Insurance Govt plans, pay to get rationed out when youre gray and old Youre out of the fold Cut out hearing aids, eyeglasses, youre left out in the cold They want you in the coffin And out of their benefit plate Insurance companies, dont call their executives greedy and vindictive As long as they can justify capitation, and their outcomes predictive Tranked up, tied down, ignoring your raves and rants Push the call button a hundred times while excrementals fill your pants Dont be gruff if the aides and nurses treat you rough Dont be or get rash, if youre lucky enough theyll change your diaper and wash you up Remember, its the diaper not you that goes in the trash Remember honey they keep you alive so they can push pills and services

And keep on getting your and the governments money So next time you think to evacuate and get the urge Remember that congress, your government, and most likely the owners of the chain of homes, and insurance executives have private non HMO health care, thats more or less concierge Insurance for all, also known as rationed health care, may one day lead us to trouble Because our standards for healthcare fall under a standard called double Alzheimers ladies tied to their chair, youll see an old drooling shriveled up lady in a straight jacket looking like a queen While out of her mind making gestures that are just plain obscene Nursing homes are a holding tank, a human warehouse that has sunk to the depths of an existential well Its the New Millennium of managed health care hell Having trouble going to sleep Theyll slip you a tranq so you wont make a peep Youll even be dizzy the next morning when your balance you try to keep Oh what the liberal socialist cluck ! When youre that old, youre shit out of luck. If youre hungry and cant feed yourself in order to eat Quvetch moan and groan.when you call your kids on the phone Heres the play If no one comes to feed you, theyll let you starve to death and take away your tray Oh whats the use, if you complain the staff will call it abuse Karmically its hard to predict outcomes Why didnt Dante create a place for greedy insurance executives to be rendered and burnt in Hell? However readers and folks, when it comes to leaving my body I would much rather opt for CAM (Complimentary Alternative Medicine) and Mahasamadhi Remember G-d and think of this often Youll understand why Guruji called our bodies a living coffin BH

Shel Stein Copyright 2010