Yesterday's Man Poem by Francis Duggan

He has travelled where few men have travelled before
In temperatures low as minus sixty or more
In the Antartic Winter in the freezing wind driven snow
Back when he was younger a long time ago.

A shadow of the man he once used to be
His hands keep on shaking as he drinks his tea
The silver haired fellow he walks with a cane
And only the memories with him now remain

Of his glorious era when in his life's bloom
When he walked from Adelaide via Perth to Broome
A fragile old fellow he looks back in pride
To when he was famous and known far and wide.

He has just turned eighty and humble old Dan
Says I had my day I am Yesterday's Man
But the young dashing fellows who are now in their prime
Will too one day like me become victims of time.

He could walk for hours without tiring and he could run fast
And though all of his better days now in the past
His memory still good and his thoughts are still clear
And of the dreaded grim reaper he doesn't hold any fear.

The years have left him looking feeble and gray
And though he is one who made the most of his day
The longest human life in time a short span
And the reaper is waiting on Yesterday's Man.