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Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Saturday, March 31, 2012

It Is Time

You are not your bra size, nor are you the width of your waist, nor are you the slenderness of your calves. You are not your hair color, your skin color, nor are you a shade of lipstick. Your shoe size is of no consequence. You are not defined by the amount of attention you get from males, females, or any combination thereof. You are not the number of sit-ups you can do, nor are you the number of calories in a day. You are not your mustache. You are not the hair on your legs. You are not a little red dress. You are no amalgam of these things. You are the content of your character. You are the ambitions that drive you. You are the goals that you set. You are the things that you laugh at and the words that you say. You are the thoughts you think and the things you wonder. You are beautiful and desirable not for the clique you attend, but for the spark of life within you that compels you to make your life a full and meaningful one. You are beautiful not for the shape of the vessel, but for the volume of the soul it carries.



I believe it is time
to stop mourning the body of youth
Even in her dewy verdancy, we held
a conflicted relationship
She never quite lived up
to her air brushed sisters. They had
melon breasts 
while she had cottage cheese thighs

I believe it is time
to embrace the fragrant dumpling body of middle age
It is more yielding
more willing to both give and
receive
Within its folds are secrets
gained only through time and
experience

I believe it is time
to drape my body in its finest linens and loveliest decorations
Why save them?
Why not now?
It is time to stop mourning the body of youth
and celebrate
Set the table for a feast.

14 comments:

Susie Clevenger said...

I so relate to this...even when younger I criticized my body...now I just want to glory in life and embrace the woman I have become.

Brian Miller said...

smiles....this is def one that needs to be heard...and i think there is def beauty at all ages, esp when one accepts it and does not feel the need to reinact there youth....

hyperCRYPTICal said...

A truly wonderful write Lolamouse!
Excellent!

Anna :o]

Christine said...

Yes, I will never have that hard body I once had, but I sure would like the energy and stamina of youth.

Fireblossom said...

I LOVE that quote at the top. LOVE it. And as for your poem? You did it again. Blew the doors off. I want to put it on my bathroom wall and read it when I sigh at myself because I'm not 25 and hot. But you know what? I love who I am and what it took to get here.

Mary said...

It is time indeed. Bring on the finery. Celebrate what IS proudly and loudly. When, if not now?

Scarlet said...

I enjoyed the words of wisdom from the Handbook...the spark of life is beautiful to behold indeed ~

As to youth, funny how its glorified and spent for, it was full of anxiety for me. I like the table for the feast ~

Kerry O'Connor said...

Amen, sister!

We need more positive poetry about our middle-aged selves :)

J Cosmo Newbery said...

Hey! Who are you calling a dumpling? I'm more of a drop-scone.

not displayed said...

perfectly perfect.
I love it.

Maude Lynn said...

I feel every lovely word of this!

Sherry Blue Sky said...

"Set the table for a feast." I SO LOVE THIS POEM!!!!!!! YES!!!!! love the quote and the sign as well. Fantastic and uplifting!

Margaret said...

I laughed at the beginning of this poem, commiserating with it in the middle and lifting my glass in cheer at the end! Just an amazing write!

JustRex said...

I'm not so much trying to recapture my lost youth (since i was considerably fatter in my youth) as I am trying to stave off the horribly debilitating effects of gravity.