As Mick Cooley Said

Old age is a punishment Mick Cooley used to say
That did come to mind for on the street today
I met an old bloke who limped on with the aid of a cane
In his wrinkled face one could see there was pain.

My greeting to him from him brought a curt good day
He did not seem in mood for talk anyway
Who could blame him if he was in no mood for song
With the World on his shoulders he hobbled along.

Life for most at the best of times is an uphill fight
And that old age is a punishment Mick Cooley was right
How could the poor old bloke feel in any mood for to talk
When it seemed a struggle for him for to walk.

Old age is a punishment as Mick Cooley said
And of good stories of old age not many I've read
For each decade we live we have some price to pay
And our Seasons of bloom soon give way to decay.