Sylvia and Salvador: Music
Me Hice Viejo
Juan M. Morones wrote the lyrics to this song as a poem, in only a few minutes, while he was visiting with us. Sylvia and I were busy with other things, but when Juan showed her his poem, she insisted that i set it to music. And I did, that very same afternoon.
10) Me Hice Viejo (I Have Grown Old)
As I was walking down the street one day, I saw the man
Who had been my professor, my guide, my friend. I hurried
Over to greet him and chat. So much time had passed since
I had last seen him, and I was anxious to ask how he
Was, and what he had been doing, how his life was going,
that life that had been so full of wisdom and experience.
He listened, with bowed head, to all my many questions,
And I thought for a moment that he didn’t recognize me.
But slowly, he raised his head, and with a sad smile, he answered:
“Time, relentless, has passed,
Passed over my body,
Passed over my mind.
I no longer eat
As I used to eat,
Nor do I sleep
As I used to sleep.
I do not walk, or run
Like I used to,
And my eyes cannot see as they did,
Not even with disdain.
I am no longer healthly,
Like I used to be.
My memory fails me,
But my lips silence it.
Money used to flow in,
As did pleasure in my bed.
Now, those who loved me most
No longer remember me.
I could say,
Numb, and perplexed,
Without insisting,
That I have grown old.”
Dawn to dusk, spring to fall, seed to fruit.
Time is time, and we cannot halt the progression.