Sunrising from my red enamel shoebox, I
Walk forth! To announce
That it is half-past middle age.
Come with me;
Stoke the mind and move the body.
Fresh as a morning decision,
Or a color not yet named,
Like chartreuse, or violet, but neither.
Time is my roll of ribbon
Spinning out toward a brand-new world
Of little universes,
Of stars and stubborn angels,
Because we have surely spent this one.
I admit, I do better in this liminal state,
I’m more present when I’m not so sure.
Spare me your certainties:
I will be the light through two trees,
The feather in the wind,
The name out of mind, and
The smile that remains.
Marilyn Mathis has been composing poems before she could write. She views poetry as a language in which she speaks.
She has published magazine and newspaper features locally and nationally. She is the winner of the 2020 Ageless Authors Poetry Prize, third place. She received international awards in writing, magazines and promotional projects during her 30+ year career in corporate communications, Marilyn is currently at work on a mystery novel and several short stories. And of course, she continues to write and improve her poetry.
She has published magazine and newspaper features locally and nationally. She is the winner of the 2020 Ageless Authors Poetry Prize, third place. She received international awards in writing, magazines and promotional projects during her 30+ year career in corporate communications, Marilyn is currently at work on a mystery novel and several short stories. And of course, she continues to write and improve her poetry.
Latest posts by Marilyn Mathis (see all)
- Lacemaker - 7th December 2022
- On Turning Seventy - 29th August 2021
I like the contrast of walking out in red shoes (confidence) right into uncertainty that turning seventy brings to all who walk that far. Marilyn has written a poem that readers may return to time and again and sense something they may have missed the first time.
I enjoyed this poem very much. I especially like the last few phrases that say we don’t have to have certainty to be meaningful. And that age doesn’t have to be a limit.
Your lovely, sunny poem encouraged me and made me less fearful of life at 70. In fact, for a short moment I found myself wishing it would arrive sooner. Well done!
What a lovely poem! This author has nailed the often unappreciated beauty of growing older. Please – more poems by this lady? Please?
Having just passed 76, the image of stoking the mind and moving the body, an unexpected reversal, was most evocative! I was also taken with the image of time as a ribbon. What hope that gives: life will continue to be beautiful as satin unfurling!
Marilyn Mathis has done it again. Her words have touched my heart with honesty and love. In this poem, she expresses the nuances of turning seventy with joy and fearless abandon despite the uncertainty of what may lie ahead. This is such a refreshing sentiment in a world that idealizes the cult of youthfulness above all else. I hope to read more from this talented author.
Marilyn’s poem does not evoke a feeling of growing old, rather a feeling of floating into a new dimension filled with awakenings, wonder and renewal. Her words, thoughts and emotions are taken to the ethereal realm. It goes without saying that she is a gifted writer.