Editors Note: I just found this poem among the files on a flash drive that belonged to my father. The occasion was his 75th birthday in 2003. Looking back with much fondness now, and knowing that he would pass from this life on May 8, 2006, I am filled with great joy. For this poem embodies so much of the spirit of the man that I knew as Dad, and that others knew as “Bill” Sexton.

 

The Old Man in The Mirror

 

Seventy Five years old, surely that’s NOT me

A Short time ago, I was a boy plowing the field, it seems.

Wanting to hurry up and be a big man so others could see

As an adult I could explore the world, perhaps even sail the sea

 

Yes, when I look in the mirror, sometime I see

An old man looking back at me

I wonder how that old frame in my mirror me could be

For In my mind a younger man should be smiling  at me

 

Surely seventy Five years could not have passed so fast

Leaving the old figure in the mirror I observe when I pass

For I’m still young at heart,

From that young age I’m not ready to depart

 

How old is seventy five years anyway

When one is young that age seems so far away

Someone once said he/she is just as old as they feel

So, beloved, In my heart I’m still YOUNG enough to climb a hill

 

Please don’t write me off as being old just yet

The Lord surely knows how much time I have left

But while He allows me to live, love and laugh

I’m young in mind, enjoying youth while He allows it to last

O, yes another year is just about to end

Seems just the other day it only began

Which indicates we need to be busy all the time

Doing things, by looking back, will bring joy to our mind

 

Bill Sexton, December 23, 2003

 

 

 

December 25, 1928 —-2003