Vanity’s altar

Walking away from love, won’t improve

Life, nor bring happiness. Self-isolating

Elderly, sensitive perhaps of what they

Have become, what time has done to

Their bodies, what the mirror mistakenly

Tells them should be hidden from sight.

Oh, how wrong we are, when we trash

The beauty of time, and how much love

And life we sacrifice on the cold stones

Of vanity’s altar.

With age comes a unique gracefulness,

A certain comeliness that can only be

Acquired by time. A reflection of younger

Days that does not dim, but in the right

Hands glows brightly, sending a signal

To a lover that can only be sent from a

Mature heart.

Love and life are not the exclusive realms

Of the young. Yes, a youthful body is to be

Admired, but so too a body that has lived

And loved somewhat longer. Yes too, there

Will always those who see less than there

Is in maturity, and make fun or downplay

The capacity of the older persons right to

Love and be loved.

Does the heart sink at 60 or 70 never to

Love again? I think not, for there is so much

To be had in a bond that ignores the passage

Of time and sees only the prospect of renewal.

Renewed love, renewed companionship, and

Perhaps above all, renewed happiness,

Whatever one’s age.

For some, age is such a big deal, a cliff over

Which so many stumble, and when we talk

Of age, it could be any age, depends when

One decides to give up, to throw in the towel,

Walk away from the challenges of the heart.

Luckily, there are those who embrace life with

A more cheerful heart whatever their condition,

And I am certain it is they who will never know

The cold stones of vanity’s altar.

© Joseph G Dawson
28/10/2020