Hair peppered with silver strands
Fine wrinkles lining her face
Reminders of the shifting sands
Of time, the years lost in a haze
Of building a home, earning a living
Nurturing with tender love and caring
Holidays, dinners, gifting and giving,
Days bathed in sunshine of loving and sharing…
Never a moment of dullness, or leisure,
Never a moment with herself alone,
Never a thought of individual pleasure,
Reflected in her family’s glory, she shone..
Where did those days of incessant toil
All of a sudden disappear?
Children left her protective foil
Her husband she lost within a year…
Leaving her memories, sweet and bitter..
At her disposal, endless stretches of time..
For her to laze around and fritter
Away, reminiscing over moments sublime.
Gazing at herself in the looking glass
The greying hair she can finally see
Smiling sadly to herself, alas,
She mourns the irony of being set free.
Passion...unbridled 