Old Jude

On the dirt track that leads downhill to town
I often see old Jude walk up and down
Her shoulders drooped from age she smiles and says good day
To any one she meets along the way.

She is eight years with the three score and ten
And she looks her age gray haired and rather thin
But I've heard one who knew her in her young years say
That she was quite a beauty on her day.

Her husband a soldier killed in world war 2
And he died brave one of the many who
Ended their lives in battles far away
For any cause too big a price to pay.

They had a son but he too lay with the dead
On his last hour she sat beside his bed
And held his hand as he struggled for breath
From cancer he found his release in death.

The human span is measured out in time
And her husband and her son went in their prime
And in time the longest human life not long
And the reaper takes the old and young and strong.

On the dirt track that leads downhill to town
One often sees her walking up and down
An aged woman looking thin and gray
But she was quite a beauty on her day.