From Adventure To Exercise

          From Adventure to Exercise

    A walk makes no sense
    When there are no stones to skip,
     No sign of a fence
     To jump. Why waste the trip?

      I suppose a man ages
     And is forced to subsist
     On fewer empty pages
     And more moments missed.

      But I've still got some spring
      When Spring gets to stalking.
      Just keep handy the bandages, the sling
      And keep walking!

     I rarely meet anyone interesting on afternoon strolls, especially on weekdays. Ordinarily, the same milquetoast dog owners spout their underwhelming platitudes without stopping. Well, sometimes the dogs stop. Weekends, however, can be a different story. Henry Kissinger appears periodically, usually in mid-lecture to some coeds about why a detente between Indian and Pakistan would help shorten the war in Afghanistan. The coeds, of course, are unfailingly callow and beautiful in that giggly way that one might assume would irritate an old man, but apparently not. I follow behind the small throng just to pick up some useful information and Old Hank never seems to mind, assuming he notices at all. Just another reason exercise is so beneficial.