Wearing Out One’s Welcome
Overly grateful for a child’s call
Willing the cat to linger longer on the lap
Counting the days since the last hug
One looks up one’s life expectancy at 70
And finds that it’s a little over 17 years
And sometimes 17 years seems like a very long time
And other times it seems entirely too short
One leaves out punctuation in a poem like this one
To dare a tiny bit of rule-breaking
And in consideration of the finality of a period
It’s the rule-breaking that will keep one alive
Over the long haul
When in doubt break the rules
To hell with other people’s opinions
Wear purple yoga pants in public
Wash one’s hair less often
Leave the bra in the drawer
Travel to new places
Eat potato chips and sour cream
While playing on-line Scrabble
Light a single candle for dinner
Or dine out at the bar
Have a glass of wine
Or be a real rebel and drink water
Have cake or at least relish the idea of having cake
And as the impermanent world turns
Even if one is never noticed again
Remember always that one is truly enough
An excellent conversational companion for oneself
(Or as spell-checker would have it “one’s elf”)
