AGING GRACEFULLY (2004)

AGING GRACEFULLY )2004)

I don’t want the slimming mobility of demographics that diamonds bring,

The sparkle of wealth, the shimmer of status,

A life polished to perfection, but hollow inside.

Keep your Mercedes for the middle-aged-balding-men,

With their tailored suits and empty smiles,

Chasing youth in a rearview mirror of regret.  I’ll take my grocery-getter, complete with Mardi Gras beads hanging from the rearview mirror,

A car that rattles and hums, with stories etched in every dent,

A companion on roads less traveled, where freedom is the destination.

The beads sway with each turn, a reminder of nights filled with laughter and abandon,

A life lived in color, not in the grayscale of expectation.  And when the grey hairs come, I will collect them, like pennies,

Each one a testament to a moment lived fully,

A laugh shared, a tear shed, a lesson learned.

I will cash them in for bills at the bank of memory,

Where the currency is wisdom, and the interest is peace.

For in the end, it’s not the shine of diamonds or the gleam of a Mercedes that defines us,

But the richness of our experiences, the depth of our connections,

And the courage to live authentically, grey hairs and all.