AGEING

AGEING

The rain-drenched soapwort petals are showing a faint wash of pink. Is that any way to age? Evening primrose leaves have turned barn-red.---Dave Bonta, The Morning Porch, 08-25-11

Why can’t  a man be like a tree? In smaller terms,

why can’t a man be like a leaf, or maybe a flower? 

If he were this maple, watch how its green foliage

quickly turns to a rainbow wall, a magic of fall. 

If he were that dissembling leaf turned barn-red

from its primrose green fencing golden footpaths 

with petals tied like yellow ribbons on a welcome

road, would he not make growing old a big party? 

Why not a wash of pink on these fey petals then,

before they crinkle into the wrinkles of autumn? 

There must be a celebration of virginal spring

that in the heat of summer reaches a crescendo 

of blooming, of a flirting dance with the wind,

a delicate fandango to the rhythm of castanets! 

Is that any way to age? It must be the only way.

It begins with the breaking of shoot from seed, 

the lusty towering into that árbol de fuego, a bole

of flames, firetrees fencing out the drab cobbles 

of a one-way street meandering through dread,

a fool’s boulevard of discarded days and dreams. 

---Albert B. Casuga

08-25-11