A Poem: Aging

Did you hear about the girl
who through aging
grew fully
into her skin.

Did you hear
how she gave up youth
for wisdom,
and truth for wonder.

Did you hear about the woman
who had no fear
of time’s pace,
but set her own.

And did you hear her state
how youth’s
passing passage is only a foretaste
of what’s to come.

A practice,
or a preview
of the
real thing.

The problem with age
is that its lost on the young
and its treasures
found late

when the skin
grown into
loses its tightness
and finds comfort in spread.

Softens
and takes up more room,
that it claims as a space
earned in a world

it belongs.

Ana Lisa de Jong
June 2018

Painting: Daniel Ludwig