Hello HenryM.
Happy birthday, and I love the poem.
I had a lot of trouble trying to get my rhymes to reproduce on here as I wrote them in 'Word'. Eventually, I asked a friend who knows about these things and he told me to try 'soft-returns' instead of 'hard returns'.
Just in case you are like me and don't understand this sort of language:
1) A 'hard return' is where you press 'enter' to go to the next line.
2) A 'soft return' is where you press shift, simultaneously with 'enter.
This seems to do exactly the same as a 'hard return' only it doesn't mess it up when you copy and paste.
I tend to press that little semiquaver-like icon at the top of the page which shows me in graphic form what I have done and where I am still going wrong, so that I have a chance to put it right before copying and pasting.
Let this information be my birthday present to you today!
Best wishes
Bill
Sally K. I also like the concept in ‘Warning’: When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple. I particularly enjoyed the bit where she says she ought to get some practice in before she gets old, so that people can get used to the idea.
I have always considered age as being ‘relative’ to the individual, in the sense that we tend to live from birth to death, and very few of us can predict how long that might be.
None of the males in our family history live longer than 60years, so I grew up with the understanding that 60 years would probably be my lifespan. This type of thinking prompted me to cram in as much as possible whilst time seemed to be on my side.
I also made up my mind that I would not want to die a long, lingering, painful death, so put in place a plan to take control of my own death whenever that might be. So that people would understand my position on the matter I penned a poem entitled ‘My Living Will’. However, I seem to have lasted way longer than expected, so I felt the need to add a codicil when I had a stoma.
If I was to write this poem now, in the last line of each verse I would change the word ‘happy’ for ‘contented’. So, it would read: ‘Still- while I can be contented- I will’.
Obviously, I could not pass up the opportunity for sharing the rhyme with you, which you will see was first written in 1996 and added to in 2011, and yet I am still here!
Best wishes
Bill
MY LIVING WILL – CODICIL.
My living will I will update.
As I’ve become an ostomate.
Now shit flows freely from my tum’.
And mucus oozes from my bum.
--- Still! – while I can be happy – I will.
But other things remain unchanged.
So they need not be rearranged.
I’ll share with you my previous will.
And add this as a codicil.
--- And! – while I can be happy – I will.
Bill Withers 2011
MY LIVING WILL.
My feet will sometimes hurt and swell
They have some ingrown nails as well.
Cold winter's wet I will avoid
'Cos all my joints are rheumatoid
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will
Achilles tendons play up still
but they don't make me feel that ill.
It's pain from cramps that I compare
to a thousand volts and umpteen ampere
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
Resolving the piles predicament.
Left me quite incontinent.
The stricture helped to keep shit in.
But split and bled each time I'd been.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
Both knees and hips are giving way
and lower back, ‑ well what can I say
Irritable bowel I can't abide
For that pain comes when others subside.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
I often lose my sleep at night.
With broken ribs both left and right.
I have to lie upon my back.
Snoring ensuring the insomniac.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
When I eat, I tend to bloat
And bile so vile sears to my throat.
This makes it very red and raw.
So, I don't eat as much, therefore.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
That ulcer of mine.
Remains doing fine.
But the pain in my shoulder.
Gets worse as I'm older.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
My teeth are always going wrong.
I don't suppose I'll keep them long.
And glands within my neck swell up.
Which makes it rather hard to sup.
still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
My eyes have never been quite right
And now my hearing's very slight.
My hair, though there ‑ is somewhat symbolical.
Problems with roots and also the follicle.
‑‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
Blood disappears from hands with ease.
But this appears in Reynaud’s disease.
With bronchial blocks and weakening lung
I guess ‑ I am no longer young.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
My blood is thin, my heart will miss
I even have a job to piss.
Foul farts flow free ‑ and the baddest of breath
force friends to flee or get gassed to death.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
Whilst I can THINK ‑ I'll not succumb.
To these things that I've become.
But if ever I lost my INNER-drive
I would not want to stay alive.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
I may meditate upon a sigh.
And contemplate a life gone by.
But if I leave this frail old frame.
I would not want it back again.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
Do not be sad for me my friend.
when I have come to mortal end.
For I'll be glad I've lived my life.
With job, the dogs, the kids, the wife.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
I want to make my feelings clear.
In case my mind should disappear.
Do not feed me, ‑ let me die.
You should not need to ask me why.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
I've got my organ donor card.
and though it may well be quite hard.
When I depart, you can feel free
To use the useful parts of me.
‑still ‑ while I can be happy ‑ I will.
Further still ‑ If I can't be happy ‑ my will. (This is)
B. Withers. 1996
