Coming Of Age

Coming of Age

I turned fifty at twenty one
By adding thirty years
Subtracting all my carefree ways
And multiplying fears
Not one to excel at maths
As you can plainly see
My workings out, they made no sense
Especially to me

I carried the remainder
With ease of heart and mind
And wore it as an overcoat
Not loose, the tailored kind
Buttoned up and belted
Old fashioned in my style
It covered up my youthful form
The added years belied

One and twenty candles
Adorned my birthday cake
Sticks of wax in candy pink
Topped with cotton wick
They didn't burn from both ends
Like the candles of my youth
Naked flames weren't dancing
Now much longer in the tooth

I was always on the outside
At odds amongst my peers
My age, rank and position
A traitor to the years
Cosmo, She and Vogue
Suave impostors by my Aga
Was home to Homes & Gardens
And back issues of Saga

When finally I came of age
On reaching big five O
The age that I'd been born to be
It felt like coming home
At long last I can act my age
Feel like I belong
Without the taunts and questions
Making me feel wrong

We are the sum of all our parts
'Tho I won't equal yours
The symbols may be different
My twos might make your fours
I have added noughts to mine
Where none were meant to be
But by God it feels good to be
The age I'm meant to be

Mel 27/10/10

Someone Stole The Colour

In the dead of the night
Where ghouls and demons play
An artist took his palette
Dipped his brush into the grey

He painted great wide swathes
Across the greens and blues
Blacked out the reds and yellows
Concealing all their hues

The stars he had to dab at
More than once or twice
To blot out all their brightness
For the darkness was his vice

The moon a silver slither
Took one brush stroke to conceal
He then wiped out the angels
With his artistic zeal

When I awoke at daybreak
And out of bed I climbed
I stopped short for a moment
Thinking I'd gone blind

The view from out my window
Was grim and grey and dank
No pale blue skies above me
No verdant grassy bank

Thinking the glass was misty
I rubbed it with my sleeve
Round and round in circles
But the glass did not deceive

It was then that I remembered
Your words the night before
“I'm sorry, I don't love you”
Then you walked out the door

The instant that you said it
My world faded to grey
Someone stole the colour
When you took your love away

Mel