HOW TO BE OLD

A Poem for Today - January 5, 2014

HOW TO BE OLD

It is easy to be young. (Everybody is,
at first.) It is not easy
to be old. It takes time.
Youth is given; age is achieved.
One must work a magic to mix with time
in order to become old.

Youth is given. One must put it away
like a doll in a closet,
take it out and play with it only
on holidays. One must have many dresses
and dress the doll impeccably
(but not to show the doll, to keep it hidden.)

It is necessary to adore the doll,
to remember it in the dark on the ordinary
days, and every day congratulate
one’s ageing face In the mirror.

In time one will be very old.
In time, one’s life will be accomplished.
And in time, in time, the doll --
like new, though ancient -- will be found.

- May Swenson

May Swenson: ‘How To Be Old’ © 1963 by May Swenson