“Enjoy it, while you can!”
never makes sense
to young ones whose only goal
is to get old enough to let life unfold
on their own.
Until, they are old enough to love.
Then, as the old ladies foretold,
“Enjoy it, while you can!”
I see those women still.
Still young.Still passion filled.
Still yearning for more, and amore.
They gathered for morning coffee
on the screened-in porch.
Pulling me within
by their passion, a torch
to light my way
to womanhood, day by day.
They were all related
by marriage and by blood,
or paesans from villages abroad.
They formed a sisterhood
from marriage to widowhood.
They aged, yet, their passions still raged
at husbands whose passions had been spent
on youthful challenges and endeavors
they embraced as leavers
to lift their families higher
than an immigrant could aspire.
Worn out before their time.
Passions worn too thin
to please their wives.
“Enjoy it, while you can!”
Ah! Now, I am finally
old enough to understand.
