aging – Page 5 – One Woman's Quest

Gliding

In isolation, I am rock –
solid, fearless, present

Memories are moon-bows –
miracle of love, whispers
of what might have been

Will not let current fear
shape me; I am tethered
to faith, gently gliding.

(Image my own)

Trinkets

I’m returning the jewels
loaned to me

Settling
for smaller trinkets…

…a teddy bear
a paper parasol…

I know it’s been a while
but I haven’t forgotten

It’s harder these days
relying on others

Accommodations unnerve
so I stay away…

…a silver ring
a hat for Teddy…

It’s enough really
I haven’t much to spend

but your faith in me
means a lot

and warmed by our connection
I’m willing to invest…

I don’t need diamonds or pearls
just trinkets to remind me…

(Image my own)

Mastery

Happenstance welcome,
dreamer that I am

Loyal to memories
and committed to progress

Professional ambitions unrequited,
I seek new avenues…

Failure a nag
provokes hesitation

Let me be!
I am independent!

This path is unique
and while I dwell
in contemplation of what ifs

I recognize my challenges,
the unreliability of illness,
expect no encores

Easier to focus
on what I can master
today.

(Watercolour mine)

This I Know

Eventuality
of gravity
is bona fide –
Flesh is not iron

Minds, however,
can strengthen,
if nurtured with
open compassion

Spirits plummet
and revive, buoyant
as the grace that
serves them.

(This I Know first appeared on Twitter. Image my own)

Forgive the Dance

Please forgive the dance,
but it is what I do –
one step forward,
then slide back,
shuffle and lose the rhythm
and start again.

Always reaching forward –
heart securely tucked in place –
but there is something embedded,
cellular – that invites the struggle

and so…I dance –
yesterday a warrior,
today the fool,
tomorrow only knows

multi-faceted,
roughly cut,
a gem
of an undefined hue,
I will always try again.

(Forgive the Dance first appeared on One Woman’s Quest II, September 2019. Image my own)

Visible, Yet Hidden

I am visible, yet hiding –
balancing a vitality-blocking
disorder that renders me
inanimate, repulsive –

Who doesn’t flinch
in the face of deviancy?

Creativity obsesses
grasps hope that courage
will annihilate the beast,
that resourcefulness
is all it takes to overcome –
Hold on! it cries, nestled
deep within the grief –

Oh, you think you see me,
but I assure you, my friend,
you do not – I am rebel,
lost in isolation, vulnerability
fantasizing revolution –

Resolve trapped between
the exaggeration of infinite
possibility and the unremarkable
defence of compulsion to survive –
thrive even, if spirit was not
so aghast at current setbacks.

(Image my own)

Nothing is Lost

The garments of past successes
are not lost in life’s shuffle
but reapplied with new panache

What once served to polish presentation
now accentuates gained wisdom –

service is service
whether salaried
and noteworthy
or humbly given

I apply my passion to a higher cause
and am rewarded with space to grow
and companionship along the way

Discovering that life experience
bears worth – a liberating
and empowering awakening.

(Image my own)

Love’s Waters

Love’s waters rise
defy the impossibility
of our sedentary walls –
tides and emotions
like sculptors
reshaping the contours
of opposition, softening
the places where hearts meet.

(Art my own)

Old Codgers

Idleness fills his hours
as if time knows no limits

I devour moments, afraid
tomorrow will forget me

We see-saw between
treacherous righteousness
and fusty avoidance

Ignoring balance –
the sensible response.

(Written in 2019, I chuckle that little has changed. Image my own)

Reminders

Time hinders
ability,
dictates new
cautions…
It doesn’t mean
we give up;
we just store
possibility
in tucked away
spaces –
as reminders

(Reminders first appeared here August 2018. Image my own)