Rusty Fingers

My fingers hurt, calluses adorn my fingertips - I haven't played guitar this much in years. But I have to practise if I want to play, and I DO want to play.

My fingers are also rusty, I used to play better than this. My voice is rusty, I used to sing better than this. My brain is rusty too, I've gotten older, it takes me longer to memorize lyrics.

I could forget the lyric-memorization though - read my lyrics from paper. But then I'd have to perform sitting down, and I'd have to wear my stupid glasses because my eyes are also rusty, though there's no hope of improving that with practice - just have to keep on singing until the words are sufficiently ingrained.

I have a son who is part of a theatre collective. He and his fellow actors are capable of memorizing long and complicated texts without problem - I envy that. But he's young and he's had a LOT of practice.