A Bee's Life

The bee buzzed and bumbled and struggled, to fly from a tiny pile of hay.

Unseen, the bee was awfully hidden,

from friends in blackberry flowers this fine day.

A bee’s life span for gathering honey is short with work to be done.

This bee strove for his freedom, despite being trapped and alone

Gently I stirred loose grass clippings, to open a way to early eve's light.

He climbed on the silver of garden fork's blades and buzzed a big bumblebee sigh.

Mr. Bumblebee, freed from his dry grassy trap,

to the blackberry flowers took flight.

As he struggled, did he know he was aging?

Was it instinct that he buzzed of his plight?

This bumblebee taught me a lesson, when aging is worrying me,

to just keep on busy and buzzing. Be just like a big bumblebee.

“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

Respecting our Elder

So the old girl’s tired, is she?  

Rode hard and put up wet one too many times?

She needs some rest and recuperation for a bit.

We don’t always know how dependent we are on her.

Our very lives are made possible with her 
gifts of land, water and sky.

We seem to have made a slave of Mother Earth, 

always asking for  more than we need.

When she is aging, with aches and pains of her own,

do we honour 

her gifts and her sacrifice

relax our greed and our grip?

We are allowed to put 

our homes and our businesses,

our schools, and our highways

our churches and our governments

wherever we choose,

Why are our wants and needs greater 

than the well being of the host that we reside upon?

“....What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live

 without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.”

~ Evo Marcos

Circumstance Unknown

She sat on the seat of her walker, long white hair fluffing out under a pink crocheted cap with a curled edge. She had a nice sunny spot on the busy sidewalk.

Her soft skin, only barely wrinkled, spread into a smile as I approached. Twinkling blue eyes greeted me. She nodded and said ‘Good morning.’

I had seen her before on that sidewalk, always clean, dressed neatly in faded jeans, a top to suit the weather and an old cap in hand for ‘donations’. Coins found their way into my hand and dropped into the cap.

‘Thank you, ma’am. Have a nice day.’

I know not what her circumstance is, nor is it my business. Poverty? Family estrangement? Both? None?

She does not ask for pity, and I offer her none. Aging is no respecter of economic circumstance. 

“Pity is a benign form of abuse.”

~ Michael J. Fox

What Would We do without Aging?

When I was very little,

my grandparents were important to me.

I wanted to be just like them

but didn’t know what that would mean.

I didn’t know of their aches or their pains,

or someday my own aches to please.

I only saw grandpa’s white hair and his garden,

and heard him tell stories to me.

My grandma’s house was much more than a home,

and had sleep overs, cookies with milky sweet tea.

So where would we be without aging?

‘Twould be nice if the aches weren’t to be.

Grandkids, nieces and nephews ~ or any child we know ~

needs grandparents like me and like thee.

“A child needs a grandparent, anybody’s grandparent,

to grow more securely into an unfamiliar world.”

~ Charles and Ann Morse

A Challenge

Up stair steps and ladders and stairways we go,

with handholds and railings, aging quickly or slow

Each pathway we take has been laid down before

by travelers and family, friends rich or poor.

We play and we learn from toddler to teen.

Adults arise - at least that’s what we seem!

Things do slow down when our life’s work is done.

‘Tis oft then we wonder about life being fun.

Planning and sketching a life past employ,

is a task worth accepting for life to enjoy.

So the challenge before us is to build a new stair

with wisdom and knowledge from life, foul or fair.

“Creating ways to be happy is your life’s work,

a challenge that won’t end until you die.”

~ Martha Beck

The Truth about Aging

As one matures, ripens and 

develops wisdom,

the following traits and behaviours 

are to be expected:

Amazingly articulate

Gad-abouts with flair

Intelligent and 

No nonsense!

Genuinely alive.

“The golden age is before us, not behind us.”

~ William Shakespeare

Memories through Time

It was only a cup of coffee

in white ceramic mug.

Milk swirled into dark coffee 'til

colour of a manilla envelope

It was only ice tea in the summer

in a tall blue aluminum glass,

Ice, crushed by kids, packed to the edge,

tasty tea filled the glass to the brim.

Despite the aging of daddy,

those preferences always remained.

Memories polished with time’s grainy edge,

become clearer as we age on our own.

And through passage of life ~ memories, 

like Dad’s preferences, remain.

“Time moves in one direction, memory in another.”

~ William Gibson