Age

Photo by Jennie Roberts Jenkins

 

I am 60.
You may be older.
Or not.

  We may have grown up
  in different times;
  likely in different places.

   Our experiences weren't the same,
   yet we have shared
   an essential common denominator:
   life.

  It has shaped us;
  bent us, cracked us,
  sometimes broken and crushed us,
  stretched us, grown us.

   In the time and space
   that lies between us
   here and now,
   let us not use our differences
   to compare and compete,
   as if there is a prize
   or a finish line
   which only one or a few
  of us can reach.

  Let us, instead,
  place our stories and ourselves
  side by side,
  daring to reveal our true selves
  to one another,
  unvarnished and without the need
  for peripheral accessories.

   Let us weave the power
   of our collective selves
   into a garment of hope;
   a hammock in and from which
   the fire of love can be kindled
    in our souls;
   a quilt of grace
   to comfort the cosmos
   in all its fractured places.

© 2019 Todd Jenkins