By Scott Shephard
I'm listening to "Old Friends" by Simon and Garfunkel this morning. I remember hearing the song for the first time when I was 14 years old and being moved by Simon's amazing poetry. I was certainly moved by the imagery of old men sitting side by side in a park.
“Old friends,
Sat on their park bench
Like bookends.
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the ‘round toes
On the high shoes
Of the old friends.
Old friends.
Winter companions,
The old men
Lost in their overcoats,
Waiting for the sunset.
The sounds of the city,
Sifting through trees,
Settle like dust
On the shoulders
Of the old friends”
And then the last verse . . .
“Can you imagine us
Years from today,
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange
To be seventy.”
I do remember way back then, when I was still a boy, how terribly strange it might be to be 70, which seemed ancient to me then.
But I'm not 70 yet - I am only 61 and I don't feel old today.
I hope I never do.
(This photo, incidentally, was taken at the Birch Bayh Federal building in Indianapolis. The eagle next to the mirror didn't sneak into the photo, as a photobomber would. Instead, I invited him/her to join me in the self-portrait.)
Canon 5DIII 1/60s f/8.0 ISO500 65mm