In his eighties/he stood tall/ clear eyes/and a sweeter nature/ children grown/mistakes logged/he contemplated his final sea voyage/in the muggy air/with a distinct gusto/navigated the chop and roll of age/as if the good natured joke/was known to him in secret/the joke that was on us all/a seer/as if he charted/unavoidable tragedies/around the very next corner/constrained to secrecy/eventually he’d don his slippers/and walk quietly into his end