Old Rodney Poem by Francis Duggan

The best days in his life in the forever gone
But the desire it is in him to keep living on
Old Rodney loves life and he has no wish to die
To him heaven and hell are based on a lie
He wants to live on for as long as he can
And die in his sleep without pain as a very old man
Of a life after death and of a heaven or hell
He says any deceased person he has known of their existence has not come back to tell
In his late seventies he has never had children or a partner or a wife
Though in his younger days he had many women in his life
He looks fit and healthy for one of seventy nine
And he enjoys nothing better than a carafe of red wine
And at the local on Saturday night in the mood for song
He feels happy to join in the pub sing along.