always polite and welcoming
as tree shade on a hot day
but today he approaches
shakes my hand and says
“God Bless you and God bless me” with a turned-up face
on a bent-spoon torso
draped over his walker
eyes as dazzling
as the morning sun
on this Chesapeake Bay
with a smile floating
like a boat on that water
I wonder what turn he took
On his road to 90
Obviously one I missed
or maybe it’s still ahead
after the pavement ends
when the path narrows and
life closes in and stumbling
is easier when walking alone
because something tells me
it’s in the rising not the falling
when one gets those kind of eyes
that kind of smile