Peter, poetically and touchingly described. The wisdom of the elderly has been lost, undermined and discounted by our society. In other societies/civilizations the elderly were revered and looked up to for their accumulated knowledge, and their council was often sought on important matters. Now the elderly are shunted into sterile monocultures and left to die. We need a move back to mixed communities, where all ages can freely mingle and interact, where the old can delight in the antics of younger generations and the young can learn about life's processes as they interact (sounds like a business word, but I can't think of a gentler one right now) with the elderly...

May we all be gracious in our old age... Davey (:>)