poem: turning sixty
65
Turning Sixty
It’s like riding the late train,
Lights flashing on and off
As the car clatters and sways,
Waiting for the unimaginable last stop.
It’s like just having suffered
The guillotine and
Some joker holds your head
Up to view the severed body.
It’s like jumping with an antique
Parachute hoping it will open,
Not tear or be moth-eaten
When the cord is pulled.
It’s like awakening
With a black eye,
A humiliating memory
And no excuse.
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I love the subdued tone of this poem, like sweet surrender. Great similes too! Thanks for sharing :D
Thanks for the encouragement. I wouldn't recommend turning sixty.
No problem. I'm not looking forward to it anyway - that is if i'm reach it at all! :D
Great poem. I have never thought about what it will be like when I'm sixty-I just hope insanity hits early so I can enjoy my later years. I'm actually looking forward to the later years, 80's, 90's, 100's so I can finally live in bliss and insanity:) (hopefully!)
I never thought I would live past 30, 40, 50, and now horrors! 60. 30 & 60 seem to be the worst so far. Beginning to wonder what I have done to deserve such longevity. Not really so bad.....there is a clarity and freedom that arrive as well.
This poem makes me think of that wonderful poem - when I am old I will wear purple - and then basically do what I like - enjoyed your words on being sixty which is obviously far better than the alternative.....lol...40 was the worst for me - dear little black flags and over the hill signs on my desk at work etc...cheers
Seems we each experience our traumatic milestones differently. Thanks for paving the way for those of us still recovering from 50! I particularly love the last stanza! MM
nice poem
Many thanks. I rode a horse yesterday for the first time in forty odd years, and I could still do it and have fun. So I guess all is not lost.
Very well-written, thanks for sharing. Please visit my poetry hubs too.
great poem, but hope that was a temporary feeling. I'm not there yet, but I already know that 60 is going to be grand. your similes were illustrative and unique. wonderful read.
It has passed. Now it's calm seas & prosperous voyage. Thanks for your kind comments.
Five yeary to go for my 60th. Where does the time go. Good job.
thanks for dropping by. I just had an extraordinarily peaceful and unemotional 61st birthday. There is life past 60 after all.
Oh, to be 60 again. (but I really have no complaints)
Thanks for stopping by Rochelle. I'm not particularly wistful about the past either. I don't feel much different inside where the meanings are.
u r the president of ms13
Never thought I would reach 60 either. Doubt I'll reach 65. 70 would probably astonish me so much I'd have a heart attack. Three of my friends died in their fourties and they weren't - how shall I say it without offending everyone - smokers - yes the s word.
I now have two siblings in their 70s. It is difficult to feature.
I'm almost there - I did a hub about turning fifty - but I'm closer to 60. I enjoyed your poem - I guess it is better to be 60 than dead! How short life is. actually I feel like I have lived two totally different lifes so maybe I was reincarnated.
I`m turning 62 October 8th and wish I could find an excuse. Are we all thinking alike ?; good poem though.
You are a couple of months ahead of me. Didn't Shakespeare say something about that age when "every 3rd thought shall be of my grave?"
Loved the poem barranca. Sixty these days is the old 50 which is VERY YOUNG for todays standards. Have fun and know you can do anything you want. You might get sore though:)LOL
it is like crossing another great divide. I think of the song from Simon and Garfunkel. Old friends.
"how very strange to be seventy." I think I misquoted it. My 60th is next week, I have had many wrecks in my life, but never thought life would be so very beautiful and full of stories that make fiction look lame.
Hi DustyRose, I'm sure everyone turning sixty could add his or her own stanza to this poem. Some might see the bright side. At the time I had trouble counting my blessings. Since then, however, life has been so bleak. In fact, I have been generally enjoying life as much as I ever have.
Francia 3 years ago
I like your "no limit" landmark in the picture. Your poem makes me want to look back at the past with openess and honesty which by now I am already doing. I am looking forward to more poems in this site.