On Finishing Well
©2022 Susan Noyes Anderson
To grow old is indignity and privilege, all in one.
The exercise is riddled with confusion.
Age lends a certain gravitas, when all is said and done.
And yet, how much is real…how much illusion?
Youth greets life with a blank slate and a hardy constitution,
eager for every trip around the sun.
Years fill the slate but oversee the body’s dissolution,
and all the wisdom garnered is hard-won.
Given the choice, would old folks take life on another run…
in search, perhaps, of greater resolution?
Or does knowing how it all might end before it has begun
make do-overs a dubious solution?
It seem the best course is straight-on, toward a bright conclusion.
Look gently on the tale your life has spun.
Don’t yield the field to wounds or worn-out chassis. That’s collusion.
To-finish-well may well be to-have-won.
∞§∞
If this poem resonated with you, you might also enjoy reading
Growing Old Gracefully.
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Tags: aging, growing old, life