Thursday Night Football
Once a month, they stick
a needle in my arm and check my PSA,
cholesterol, and testosterone:
blood pressure rising, cholesterol high,
body clock ticking down.
The doctor keeps telling me
it’s a level playing field
but every week he changes the rules
and twice a year he moves the goal-posts.
A man in a black-and-white zebra shirt
holds a whistle to his lips while another
throws a flag. It comes out of the tv
and falls flapping at my feet.
Yes, I’m living in the Red Zone
and the clock’s ticking down.
rogermoorepoet 
Thanks, Bella. I am writing a new book of poetry called Ageing in an Age of Pandemic. However young or old we are, the proximity of sudden sickness and death surrounds us. I have become very aware of the fragility of life and essentials of the Neo-Stoic movement: “When we were born, we took our first steps on the road to death” Not very comforting in times like these, yet it is a comfort to know that others have been here before us. And faced down sickness and even death.
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Lovely. A reminder to us all to make the most of every second of play.
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