Neb'keneezer, the old Geezer

People expect old men to die,
They do not really mourn old men.
Old men are different. People look
At them with eyes that wonder when...
People watch with unshocked eyes;
But the old men know when an old man dies.
-Old Men, Ogden Nash

What ever happened to old Gunga Din,
to Theodor Herzl and Rin Tin Tin?
In the old days we used to play
hide and seek until the end of the day,
upstairs and downstairs, under the car,
Rumpelstilzchen there you are!

This year is dreadful, awfully thin,
war keeps pullin' the peaceful bodies in.
Vietnam, Congo and Nogales too,
makes you wander if you live in a zoo.

Next year promises more of the same,
the sky won't fall, the stockmarket lame.
Some hope for disaster,
not for us but them, and faster.