Ode To Mrs. Miller

I did not know how brave she was,
ninety-two and I, seventy less,
so young that old age
was textbook stuff:
a fact of life,
but not mine.

I was alive and free
to stride the world,
a colossus of youth,
whereas she had ate
almost a century!
And all her friends
and all her family
lay dead somewhere--
except in her mind,
still crisp, poignant
in its memories
of a wealthy husband,
a daughter dead young,
her own youthful beauty
remaining lonely in a
silver-framed photo.

She never complained,
this old, old lady--
never once did I hear
lamentations, bewailing
for the richness of life,
the ripe fullness she once
felt as wife, mother, and a
woman of grace and beauty.

She lived alone
in a basement flat,
barely five feet tall,
yet I've never known
any being braver...
but it is only now,
that I am become old,
I envy such courage.


(c. 2013)

Reviews

[Paul Bell]

Sometimes we dismiss the old, relics of time not worthy of our attention.
But the wisdom and information they hold are boundless.

[Nolo Segundo]

Thank you Paul-- alas, it seems the young often forget that: I know I did when young, and paid a steep price for my 'foolishness'.

[Jade]

heart touching write here, very nicely expressed and written

[Nolo Segundo]

Thanks Brandie, much appreciated.

[Christy the Poetic Hear..]

Very heart-touching!! We all knew a Mrs. Miller in our life. Thank you for entering my contest!!

[Nolo Segundo]

Thank you!

[Jeffrey Michael Buchana..]

Enjoyed very much... a slice of life that has so many layers, yet so simple and can only learned from our own experience...thank you.. I see points system but it does not allow me to score or maybe this does not apply

[Nolo Segundo]

Thank you for your kind words Jeff. And yes, I think poetry is too personal, too subjective to be 'measured' by points; to me it would be like rating one's children or friends by assigning them points when it is enough just to enjoy.

[Missowl]

I seriously love this. Have you thought about getting it published? Thank you for sharing :)

[Adesanya Yewande]

i love this story ,courage of an old woman,although am still very young not yet 20,am already thinking about what it feels to be old,many people you have know and met gone,your beauty a history........nice write up,thanks for sharing

[Nolo Segundo]

Thank you, Adesanya, for your thoughtful comments. You may be young, but you seem to have an 'old soul' for you can look far down the road, something many people are unable to do. In any case, I suspect time itself, linear time, is an illusion as every life exists in the indefinable
moment-- and to tell you a secret-- so too do our souls, each having no beginning, no ending. We are truly eternal beings residing in transient vehicles in a world that is beautiful, but still just a pale reflection of an unimaginably more glorious one.