His fingertips are raisins in a certain light,
\nlike fingerprints that just survived a twelve-round fight.
\nHis knuckles often swell and sometimes they will ache.
\nAnd if he tried to throw a curve, it wouldn’t break.
\nThe hands that had the flex once of a lithe gym rat
\nwould blister now just swinging his old baseball bat.
\nAnd that’s just what old age does to extremities.
\nWhen adding in the damage to the feet and knees,
\nit’s clear the days are gone when he can play at sport,
\nunless it is restricted to the walking sort.
\nTo both the long jump shot and perfect spiral pass,
\nhe’ll have to bid adieu and fondly raise a glass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"