Airside Bagatelle Lady

Growing old disgracefully?

             

Airside Bagatelle Lady

 

                                She cannot flatten wrinkled time

                                but she will eke the years

                                to keep the ball returning

                                to the top of the bagatelle

                                to the last.

                                She knows the pinball slows with wear,

                                the arthritic springs and flippers

                                damping the random bounce

                                to more a prediction

                                than a guess.

                                To win a bonus score

                                she will forsake the silken wrap

                                of  bridge fours and rich tea

                                for fourstar farflung safaris

                                and the rest.

                                In hours, the chintzed haven

                                her ball has settled,

                                beamed with old oak

                                and bastioned with pruned hedges,

                                must be left.

                                Magnetic now, the Airside arcade

                                will catapult her far and wide

                                toward the target gate

                                to shed her outer dermis and                    

                                speed the ball.

 

 

Reviews

[Einstein Noodle]

the catapult will fling one and all ... squealing with delight to screaming and kicking .. what a fine use of language and history you par with .. i absolutely savor this poem ... so much to learn before i go .. and when i go may it be with delight ;)
E.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i like the analogy to the pinball game...

life is kind of like that...and as we age, we aren't as adept with the flippers, we don't make as much noise, hit as many bumpers for points, so we begin to get out of the comfort zone and try to do more than our bodies will let us...
we have to prove something i guess...
i just hope we survive that safari...

and as many say, "we are as young as we feel"

inside always younger than outside.

[Pete Langley]

Yes mate....we all have a journey - and it gets more frantic fhe older we get. So glad you got this so well, Jacob. P.

[Pryde Foltz]

She knows the pinball slows with wear,
the arthritic springs and flippers
damping the random bounce
to more a prediction
than a guess.

The expression really should be from dust to stardust. This really was an excellent write, Pete:)

[Pete Langley]

Thanks so much, Pryde. You see these gals at airports all the time. P.

[Ed Hart]

there it is, written cosmically, the rolling, bowling, bouncing ball of everything, worn, growing older, holding out for the hard shots, because that's where the beauty went, and is

[Pete Langley]

Yeah....there are more and more of these adventurous, feisty women of a certain age now....might it be something to do with HRT and widowhood, Ed? Thanks, pal. P.