NOT LIFE THREATENING words & music by Lenny Solomon © 2001 L. Solomon

Aunt Matilda was over eighty, raised five children, all of them long gone;

Gone to search for their dreams and fortune,

To find a better way, for a better day.

One day Aunt Matilda woke up aching, legs were weak, she had no appetite,

The bottoms of her feet felt kind of funny,

She felt very strange, something had changed;

She thought about if she should see a doctor,

Could she find one that would really care,

One, who would respect her dignity,

Who’d help to see her through her dark despair.

For the words that were burned into her memory,

The words that she could no longer bear.

It’s just your age that’s coming to you, beckoning;

It’s not life threatening, it’s not life threatening.

The doctor took her pulse and pressure, took some blood to see if it still flowed;

Joked with her ‘bout all of his problems,

After this brief hello, he said he had to go.

Told her to stop all her complaining, winked at her and said she’s doing fine;

“Hope I’ll be in such a shape, at your age,

See you in six months, now no more fuss”.

From the doctor, came words that made her wonder,

If anyone around her even cared,

If she held, her head up high with dignity,

Or struggled through the mud of her despair.

The words that burned into her memory,

The words she could no longer bear.

It’s just your age that’s coming to you, beckoning;

It’s not life threatening, it’s not life threatening.

Matilda sat looking out her window, it was now so difficult to walk,

Her tears hit the ground, one by one,

A lonely drum, sign of things to come.

A neighbor found her three weeks later, dead in bed, beside her was a note,

It said she thought her life no longer mattered,

Felt like an old lame-duck, tossed in a garbage dump.

The preacher, talked to the congregation,

Told them all, that God was here to care,

Told them to hold their heads with dignity,

Told them all to say a little prayer.

But the thought, that burned into my memory,

The thought, I could no longer bear,

Those with no hope, will have their day of reckoning,

That’s life threatening, that’s life threatening.