Mojo, The Bard, & Me

But old folks, many feign as they were dead;

Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead.--



-Juliet



Romeo And Juliet                            Act II, scene iv, line 16




I’m sixty-two years old. So what’s this old folks crap?



Well apparently Juliet’s nurse is no spring chicken. This is the beginning of the scene and Juliet is talking to herself in the Capulet orchard. She’s sent her nurse with a message to Romeo, and now she’s waiting for the nurse's return and the expected reply from Romeo. The nurse promised to be back in a half hour and now three hours have passed. Juliet is growing understandably very impatient and remarking that if the nurse were young she’d be moving a lot faster. But the nurse is not young. She’s unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead. 

Then right after this line Nurse does show up and Juliet spends a half a page trying to drag Romeo’s message out of her while Nurse spends the same half page trying to catch her breath. 
Well, okay, I guess the nurse does remind me a little bit of myself. But just a little bit.

Unwieldy?

Slow?

Heavy and pale as lead?

Or maybe just a little bit discombobulated.