THINKING IT OVER

They tell me I should exercise to lose some weight,
that round 50’s when the fat and cigarettes do the damage,
that you have to stay in good shape,
and wage the struggle against time, and old age.
 
Well-intentioned experts and doctor friends
push dieting regimens designed
to squeeze a few more years out of life.
 
I’m grateful to them all, but I have to laugh
at all such ultimately futile attempts.
(Death, too, gets a kick out of all this stuff.)
 
The only recommendation I take to heart
is to find a young woman for my bed,
because at this late stage
youth can only hope to reach us second hand.