Turning 60

Today I walk slowly as the city lights change,
more aware than ever that eternity is no longer my friend,

aware that every glance, every touch of skin against skin,
every conversation and each deep breath of air is one less,

I have wasted too much time on the ephemeral things,
collecting the tangible like a child collects marbles,

As a youth, You ran through these same lights,
so anxious to see what was next that I too often missed

what was.

No more.

Today I saunter, I savor, I know
the eternal things cannot be seen or held:

a touch, a sigh, late night conversations
with children, lovers and God. Beauty

that fills the eye and ear and the soul
and then is gone, never to be experienced again.

It is their rarity that makes them precious,
their intricate fragility that you cannot hold.

And so I saunter. Let traffic wait. Let horns honk
and strangers rant. They have missed the very world

they live in.

But Me? I will grow older at my own pace,
ignoring time and space and convention, I will love

and be loved. I will dance in the moonlight
while the golden orb casts your shadow on the quarry.

I will feel my heart race. I will mourn,
proud of my tears and the tenderness that somehow has survived.

I will stare at art for hours, stumble over words as I pluck them like strawberries
I will laugh, pray, and meditate at dawn, I will linger in my pain, and my joy.

and find my way across streets that once defeated me like walls
but now are my playground.

Boldness, they say, is the province of the young,
but I think perhaps, they are wrong. and that, yes that,

is the greatest gift of all.

About this poem

I turn 60 today. A good thing.

Tom