What Am I Doing Here?

David’s wife, Nancy, died on August 17, 2016. In this poem, David shares some of his whimsical thoughts about what subsequently happened in his life after his move to Ashford.

What am I doing here?
A new year? A new home,
new life, new breath and place?
Though I’m not new.
I see the aging in my hands,
my feet, my lengthened ear lobes,
my sagging face.

What am I doing here?
It’s all so… so very queer.
T’was once a useful word, queer.
when I was a boy
it meant peculiar, odd;
the word gay meant to be happy,
days of living in cheer.

Too bad, so sad,
they say today.
I can’t keep up with the changes.
What am I doing here?