City Bus Print Alternate Routes #4

This Age is So Good #1
After Hollie McNish

The crow’s feet that marked my eyes
in my twenties don’t bother me anymore.

Not because they don’t exist,
but because they are evidence of
being me and they blend
with the additional lines
that are records of my existence.

My mouth parenthesis
from smiles after smiles,
all the moments that merge
in my mind like a
bouquet of wildflowers
with fragrance just as
sweet or blended like
warm soup on a cold
night – I can never remember
the exact ingredients
but I can recall how
it made me feel.

Nature’s necklace –
the rings around my neck,
like a measurement
of the age of a tree,
are proudly display,
you don’t need to cut
my trunk to count
the delicate layers.