My Aging Pleasures

By Marian Glaser ©, September 2010

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Getting older isn’t all loss. Some pleasures

are keener. Some are easier to admit,

like a liking for cartoons or comics.

Some are due to serendipity.

Openness may happen at any age

but when it coincides with aging

heightens pleasure

Suddenly seeing how unique each individual is

makes meeting anyone an adventure.

Old books acquire new life.

Memories can pool, collide,

lead to insights. I remember my

father folding newspapers into boats

we could sail in the rainwater

flowing in the Arnhem gutters.

I remember the same father, older,

in a different country, without

the energy to play with his children.

I remember a fox running free,

a bear seen across a raspberry bush,

ball lightning looking like a giant diamond

sitting stationary a block away.

All have energy in common. All objects

everywhere must be coiled energy,

from small seeds waiting to expand

to plasma, slowly coalescing

into stars or planets.

This list seems endless.

It will probably grow

until I die.