-
The Old Man
Old man coats And old man pants, Old man ‘shoulds’ And old man ‘cants’. It’s what you see, Not what he was; That’s all you get And that’s because… His clothes are old And nothing fits; His socks appear Each time he sits. His tie is stained His shirt is frayed, They are not ironed,…
-
Society is no comfort to one not sociable
I’ve been wondering about loneliness lately; I’ve been wondering if it really constitutes the epidemic it has been termed by various government health agencies -not the least of which by our neighbour, the US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Perhaps I’m being overly pedantic about the idea of it being an ‘epidemic’: an outbreak of a…
-
Flutterbys
Perhaps we live our lives in parts, segments that seem distinct only in retrospect. But now that I consist of gnarled limbs and painted, fragile leaves already heavy with the luxury of years, I am allowed think of butterflies as ephemeral markers, unlikely bookmarks in my life. I’m not really sure when this idea took…
-
Oh wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here.
There are times when it’s all too much -or perhaps, all too little. Here I am close to the end of my season, and to borrow from Macbeth, ‘My way of life is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf.’ So what is left? What remains of what I wore in the heat of youth?…
-
The Can-Counter
I used to see him Balancing On the road’s narrow shoulder As if it were a tightrope Between two worlds. He was old But carefully dressed, And he wandered Along the thin strip of gravel, Like Age Was all the permission he needed To stare into the ditch Beside him. His hair ruffled With every…
-
Your date is better in your pie and porridge than in your cheek
When I was young, everybody except my friends were old. There were gradations of course, but with anybody over 18, I could only guess the number of years they wore. And even then, it was kind of a binary choice: they were either adults, or simply old like, say, my grandparents. Old people were in…
-
Yea from the table of my memory, I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records
Sometimes we struggle to understand how others think, but it can be even harder when, despite their history with us, they lose themselves and leave us behind to search for them. And yet, often their world abuts ours in ways we may not have considered. This was a realization that crystallized after reading an essay…
-
A Pilgrim’s Process
What is it about a pilgrimage that is so appealing? What makes you want to go, and then, having seen it, having felt it, what makes you want to come back, again and again? Or, perhaps even more mysterious, what makes it sacred? I ask myself this question each year at the end of my…
-
Of unpathed waters, and undreamed shores
Borders, boundaries, limits -everywhere I turn there are constraints. Of course some are more penetrable than others: doors can be opened, ladders can be climbed, people can be persuaded. Here and there, are immutable, but perhaps only because neither have actual boundaries -just mental ones: clouds that shift like the horizon as you move… Still,…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
musingsonwomenshealth.com 