you don’t see things in the wild trying to hide their age
longing to be something they aren’t
age means something in the wild
it is strength
it is adaptability
it is life itself
you can read a tree
it’s marks, missing branches, torn bark all tell a story
all the wisdom they have gathered, standing, observing
they’ve seen trees born, and grow and have seen many fall
at 28 i first noticed the lines on my face
horrified and mesmerized all at once
my face telling the things i’ve seen, before i open my mouth
all the smiles i’ve smiled
all the tears i’ve cried
all the sunsets i’ve squinted through
all of the stories i’ve emphatically told
all of the summers i’ve enjoyed in the warmth of the sun
maybe one day we can learn to appreciate our age
as the trees do
gracefully growing and extending our roots
with any luck i’ll be graced with more, deeper, lines
more life
more tears
more sunsets
more summers
and many, many more stories
First week back at school — and you were able to get in a contemplative mood? LOL!
We were away for a few weeks and our back yard looked different this evening. Something looked brighter and more open… then I noticed the neighbour to the west was missing a bunch of junky old trees. A contractor had come and lopped them down.
Now we’ll be able to see some sunsets from our back porch!
BARRY! Not the trees!! hahahahaha!!
🙂 Yep. I always figure, that as much as I may not like seeing grey hair, and lines on my face, I’m lucky to have them. So many do not get this privilege. Each year is an undeserved gift.
we are definitely lucky to get to grow older, embracing age along with these lines 🙂