Poetry Sunday

I long ago came to terms with my rapidly-advancing age. I know my days of dancing the night away are pretty much over, now that the night comes calling by 8 o'clock, and things like cage fighting and extreme sports are nowhere to be found on my agenda. But I'm still as much in life as is Mary Oliver in today's poem ...

Self Portrait

by Mary Oliver

I wish I was twenty and in love with life

and still full of beans.

Onward, old legs!

There are the long, pale dunes; on the other side

the roses are blooming and finding their labor

no adversity to the spirit.

Upward, old legs! There are the roses, and there is the sea

shining like a song, like a body

I want to touch

though I'm not twenty

and won't be again but ah! seventy. And still

in love with life. And still

full of beans.

Yes, I'm still full of beans, in a world and a time where many in positions of national leadership - whether elected or unelected - are full of something else. I still love my wife, my family and my friends, who do their best to try to keep me grounded and humble.

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo