To a woman of a certain age

To a woman of a certain age who still refuses to turn the page.

The magazine cover

Well, OK, in this photo you look fine,

But why resist the flow of time?

We know that at the end of the day

Gravity will have its way!

You’re in the stream,

So lie back and take it easy.

In the morning you were the silver birch

So young and tall and thin upon the banks,

With leaves, like a veil, lifted by the curious wind.

You enjoyed your billowing July,

With full green leaves of ash and oak

Like summer dresses in the afternoon sun.

Now enjoy the fall of those old brown leaves

As they flutter from you to the muddy earth

And career around the fields

When November gets busy

And sweeps them into corners.

And enjoy the late evening,

The quiet ending of the day,

When wrinkled twigs in winter are clear against the sky,

And a pale sun loiters over the snow,

For the twigs too have their beauty

If you’ll only let it show.