Seven day pill box. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
'Dear, are you well?' It's hard to tell
Because I'm now old as the hills.
I must be ill. I take six pills.
I'm glad that I don't foot the bill
These pills are designed to protect
They do the job, yet one suspects -
More rashes, lumps and swollen necks
Alas, pills all have side effects
Each day pills taken heads the page
Each decade I reach a new stage
Chair yoga now is all the rage
I'm well, for someone of my age
When young, I would read long novels
Learning from others' active lives
Now instead I read long leaflets
Which help me, I hope, to survive
I read and write a lot of wills
I read and pay a lot of bills
I climb chairs, not stairs and hills
Still read a lot - about my pills.
For my age I'm very healthy
From hypochondria not free
Teens take vitamins A to E
They multi-worry, just like me.
-ends-
Depicting others' lively lives
was changed to learning from others' active lives.
Where is the humour here? I have tried to analyse the implications. For example, a lot of wills, could be others dying all around me, or indecisiveness meaning I keep re writing my will, which also implies I don't think I am well but I or others think I am dying and should make or revise a will.
It's a light hearted look at taking pills.
The young also take a lot more pills than I did when I was younger.
We now take pills for everything, to stay healthy as well as vitamin pills.
I brought in an extra verse at the end about teens, and vitamin pills, to expand poem's audience.
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