Middle-aged Back

At 63 I am well past 

the middle of my age, 

but out of politeness

we call old people in their 60s 

middle aged instead of old 

I think of this 

In the gray cold drizzle fills the air, 

but doesn’t quite fill my boat. 

I had a notion to go out on the water. 

It was cold, but it wasn’t raining 

And the way the gray slate sky 

ran into the gray slate water 

with almost no horizon

appealed to me earlier 

but now the gray above 

and the gray below 

has become the gray within 

and I know I must hurry home 

to some coffee and maybe 

warm winter soup.

the cold, wet air makes 

all of my bones ache 

but I put my middle-age back

into the oars and pull 

and pull and it hurts 

a lot 

for there is no Tylenol

on a rowboat 

just an old man pretending 

to be middle-aged 

trying to get home