25. Old Man Ambling or Human Tranquility and Decay: A Sketch

 

The people in the street
That haste along their way, regard him not,
He ambles on, and in his look, his tread,
His gait is one suggestion. Every step,
His old slow-moving figure, all bespeak
A man who does not hurry forth but moves
With leisure. He has finally resigned
To settled quiet. He is one by whom
All ambition seems revoked, one to whom
Long toiling has such retirement given,
That toiling now does seem a thing of which
He has no care. He is by hard life led
To the fifth element, that some behold
With envy, what the old man rarely feels.

I asked him where he was going and
The purpose of his journey. He replied,
“Sir, I am out on this fine day to cash
My CPP, nigh six hundred dollars,
At Money Mart by New Broadview Hotel,
Then I’ll buy a six pack to take back home.”