Long Hard Roads

One of my first priorities when I retired from my day job
Was to lose some weight, and get in shape.
So Sweet Marie and I started walking; & we added it to our long list of other chore files.
We walked slowly at first, then added more minutes to our route,
Until we were pretty soon walking two miles;
Felt like my body understood; starting losing weight and feeling pretty good.

Thus we doubled our route, & I felt like maybe my fifty-nine year old body could really do this,
When suddenly in our 3rd week, like an old car motor that suddenly felt amiss,
One knee started hurting bad; and I thought, oh no, was I headed into a deep abyss?
I gave it a good shot but after a good week of walking in pain,
Like the fighter, Roberto Duran, I said “No mas!”,  and feeling pretty much like a complete lame brain,
I headed to my orthopedic, with my head down, pretty sure I was at the bottom of my food chain.

My orthopedic doctor said that actually my left knee looked worse than my right one.
So why did the right one feel like it been shot with a gun?
That nature and arthritis had taken a toll on both knees from his view of the x-rays.
So with a shot to the right knee that felt all ablaze,
I counted my many blessings for God has never given me too hard a fight,
Soon I would get over this just like all my other long hard roads in life, and it would be all right.

Robert Collazo, 3/19/11