Acting my age on the stage...
We were walking briskly under a lane of old oaks--
arguing,
and out of frustration she screamed at me
Act Your Age!
The oaks said they were,
standing solidly against the wind--
defiantly,
I fell away.
:::
Five of the oaks fell in a storm,
leaving the lane the same year
she left me
acting,
my age acting my age,
arguing with my body--
defiantly,
I walk briskly in the wind.
Written for Poetics — It's About Time — at dVerse Poets hosted this week by Mary Kling, whose prompt asks us to contemplate the passing of time. She refers to one of William Shakespeare’s most famous monologues in the play As You Like It -- the “All the World’s a Stage” monologue, and also shares with us a wonderful video of Morgan Freeman reciting the Seven Stages of Man.
As this weekend marks 12 years since the death of my mother I am thinking of her, our complicated relationship, and undying love for one another.
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