{"id":8485,"date":"2026-06-05T16:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T15:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/?p=8485"},"modified":"2026-06-25T16:45:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T15:45:57","slug":"septuagenarians-lament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/?p=8485","title":{"rendered":"Septuagenarian\u2019s Lament"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/span>
\n

If I ever become a septuagenarian
Please don\u2019t let me be in charge
Of companies, countries or reportage<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the age of steam has long since passed
It may well be your precious train set
But electricity hasn\u2019t caught you yet<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thoughts and manners forever clouded
Though still a trace of faculties
Mudflats left by ebbing seas<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bent by power and avarice
Slow-motion soul fades and unwinds
Oh what goes on in a crooked mind<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decades of experience yes perhaps true
Alas anchored in dark unchartered oceans
Oft corrupted by ancient potions<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And misled by worm-tongued heirs
With even scarcer humility
Wealth obviously doesn\u2019t buy empathy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affording to pen one\u2019s own story
Innocent eyes may never see
Past those thin veils of philanthropy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soaring serpent evidently no more
Now just a weary dragon coveting its gold
Long gone those halcyon days of old<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those starry ages have long since passed
It\u2019s now the hour to confess and stand down
Time to relinquish that tarnished crown<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Original poetry by Jon Arthur 2026<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

M<\/em><\/a>ore Poems<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original poetry by Jon Arthur 2026 More Poems<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8485"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8565,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8485\/revisions\/8565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jonarthur.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}