It didn't used to be this way, was simpler,
people stayed unhappy longer,
just lived with it like it was fate —
couldn't be changed so why bother.
She's old now, skin sags and hips grow,
too mature to care anymore, but she claims
dancing looks fun to her at 84. It wasn't
a proper thing to do in her youth, not
in her version of Texas. Now she says
if she had one more chance, one more
run through young legs, she'd dance.
She wouldn't wear heels and a dress
to the park on Sunday. She would try
to read a little more, not work so hard
for the appearance of status. She doesn't
understand the debt of people now, the young
ones, as she calls everyone still working.
No, she wouldn't change her ways with money.
Well, maybe she would try to eat out more,
try something new, you know. She looks
at her old home, thinking of moving
someplace without a yard, without too many
rooms. There is a tear, and then she sits upright,
says to herself, no, it will be just fine.