An Old Man Must Also Strive Poem by Shalom Freedman

An old man can be quiet as what he no longer has to do
He can rest and feel rest justified
He need not make excuses
His Age makes the excuses for him
And yet in such ineptitude
There is a moral weakness
A failure in courage and dignity
An old man must also strive
Strive to the end of all his being
To be the best he can
Whatever he is
It is not in our dignity to live only in rest
He must go on
As I in writing these lines
Struggle toward a future I soon will not have.