To grow old is to lose everything.
Aging, everybody knows it.
Even when we are young,
we glimpse it sometimes, and nod our heads
when a grandfather dies.
Then we row for years on the midsummer
pond, ignorant and content. But a marriage,
that began without harm, scatters
into debris on the shore,
and a friend from school drops
cold on a rocky strand.
If a new love carries us
past middle age, our wife will die
at her strongest and most beautiful.
New women come and go. All go.
The pretty lover who announces
that she is temporary
is temporary. The bold woman,
middle-aged against our old age,
sinks under an anxiety she cannot withstand.
Another friend of decades estranges himself
in words that pollute thirty years.
Let us stifle under mud at the pond’s edge
and affirm that it is fitting
and delicious to lose everything.
(Donald Hall)
More Poetry from Donald Hall:
Donald Hall Poems based on Topics: Friendship, Old Age, Age, Youth, Beauty, Marriage, Woman- Tubes (Donald Hall Poems)
- Ox Cart Man (Donald Hall Poems)
- The Things (Donald Hall Poems)
- Safe Sex (Donald Hall Poems)
- Gold (Donald Hall Poems)
- The Painted Bed (Donald Hall Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Youth Poems, Friendship Poems, Beauty Poems, Woman Poems, Age Poems, Marriage Poems, Old Age PoemsBased on Keywords: affirm, scatters, strongest, anxiety, debris, temporary, midsummer, middle-aged, stifle, pollute, announces