elder humor

deep, wrinkled crevasses

beside her mouth

spell out her age

in decipherable hieroglyphs

but her sense of humor

stays young, biting and fun

challenging those who can see her

as a person rather than merely

an old woman

dark of night

the ‘great white way’

was once the Milky Way

pondered by shepherds

their musings giving connection

to vastness above and beyond self

millennia before angels brought

‘tidings of great joy’

‘dark of night’

now conquered by fear-induced

electric lanterns that blind us

to that experience of belonging

to our universe and hasten

our separation from it

in our small fears

we conquer ourselves

how odd age

how odd age is

relative to circumstances

and age

at nine, thirty-nine was ancient

and now, at eight decades plus,

to lose a friend at forty-six

is to relive within myself

the frustrations and joys

of those years he will have missed

and be left only the hope

that his life, for him,

was enough

funny how sadness

funny how sadness for me

begins with not wanting

to do anything

or be with anyone

only when i’ve been hermitized

for days do i realize

i need to walk in the wind

to regain perspective

and my love of life

asset among the ruins

Italians living among old, ancient

and modern gaining perspective

of ancestors who struggled

triumphed and failed

lived lives of human mortals

knowing the world that was

and not to take themselves as unique

or more seriously than they are worth           

mjNordgren  12/20/2022  Splendid Venice Hotel

remark this gift

remark this gift

haiku

 contemplative rain

dictating pause and reflect

gifting perspective