Neil Meili

Zen Cowboy Poet & Freelance Philosopher

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Tag Archives: Aging

Poems and stories about growing older,aging, deteriorating

It Is Enough

Audio Recordings, Family, Nature, Poems about Poetry / tagged Aging, Gratitude, Struggle / August 11, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

It is enough
that the baby smiles
even if it's only gas

It is enough
to know that God exists
though it take a lifetime
and a minute more

It is enough
that the dog loves you
at the end of a day filled
with cats

It is enough
that the rainbow
can arch your back
straight again

It is enough
to watch a sunset

It is enough
that leaves fall like butterflies

It is enough
that joy exists, even when
others have it all

It is enoughgh
that the other knee feels
fine

It is enough
that in dreams you can
still fly

It is enough
that poetry is in the bible
too

It is enough
that gifts come
in the size of gratitude

Lost at Sea

Audio Recordings / tagged Aging, Death, Decline, Disease / July 15, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Uncles, aunts, old friends and more
all sinking below the metaphor
on the way to that distant shore

The keel hauling of cancer
Walking Gehrig's plank with ALS

Handing from the yardarm
of emphysema's choking rope

The lighting stroke of stroke

The sudden iceberg of heart attack

The slow arctc crush of hoary old age
or slowly sailing, deeper and deeper
into Alzheimers' fog-bound banks

There are a thousand ways
to get back to the launching line

Not sure I'm ready to speculate on mine

1 Reply

Spring in Moose Jaw

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Aging, Retirement / June 12, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

In the city
retired farmers still watch
the weather

In greening front yards
wooden ducks nailed to
white posts

Wings spinning
backwards

The Albums

Audio Recordings, Family, Nostalgia, Relationships, Remembering / tagged Aging, Connection, Pictures / June 6, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Mother's shrinkage was marked by domicile

House, apartment, retirement and nursing home
shedding at each move, furniture, china and art
except for, and never, the old photo albums
heavy in padded leather brown and green

Each visit when conversation stuttered to a stall
(Religion all but Baptist drowned and what use is weather without crops)
out would come the albums
and in we all would dive
for pennies bright and shiny
at the bottom of the pool

Here's one from 1958
How young the queen looked then

1 Reply

For Victor

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Aging, Dogs, Learning, Love, pets, Wisdom / May 27, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

The only trick an old dog can learn
is how to be an old dog

The minimum of turns one has to take
before lying down for that nap

That a bark is as good as a chace
for keeping squirrels off the deck

And that after all these years
of standing up for your standing friends
you've likely earned their kneeling by you now

School Reunion

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged Aging, Athol Murray College of Notre Dame, Friendship, School, Sports / May 16, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

I went to school with supermen
all fearless and bulletproof
in hockey, football and life

They couldn't be hurt
and if there's any doubt
take two aspirin and run it out

Today their knees lock up
a golf club swing cracks a rib
one steps wrong - his leg's in a cast

They're getting more human by the day
and sometimes even at night

I blame it all on the hole in the ozone layer letting in more and more kryptonite

2 Replies

The Snakes Were Easy

Audio Recordings / tagged Aging, Humor, Perspective, Play / April 11, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

for Gary Larson

When God in his youth
made mud toys in play

He never thought of the day
as few of us do
when his beard would be gray

1 Reply

One for the Cat

Audio Recordings / tagged Aging, Cats, pets / March 31, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Buffy at fourteen
down to only two speeds
catnap and catnip

You Can Go Home Again

Audio Recordings, Family / tagged Afterlife, Aging, Connection, Death, Dying, Guidance, Transition, Welcome / March 12, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Death May Be Different

Audio Recordings, Farm, Ranch Life / tagged Acceptance, Aging, Death, Dying, Grace, Transition / March 11, 2026 / by neil_2015_wordpress@neilmeili.com

Death may be different
for folks from the city

For farm boys
maybe as simple as
getting on the old bay
hands loose on the reins
knowing it knows the way to the barn

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