Adelaide B. Shaw

The Golden Years

I can handle lonesome when it slams me against the fridge which hides some solace in the eating of dark chocolate truffles. Just one and I’m usually good to move on to some diversion—writing, loading the dishwasher, painting, calling a friend.

I can handle lonesome on a frigid night with cinnamon tea, a book to read, or a movie to watch.

I cannot handle lonesome when an ambulance wails through the community because a resident needs help. When I learn that a neighbor has fallen, when someone has a heart attack,  when there is a fire and the resident dies . . .

careful in movements
no longer do I rush
to live life
whatever I plan to do
can be done later, not sooner

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About the Author

Adelaide B. Shaw lives in Somers, NY  She has been creating Japanese poetic forms for fifty years. Her books, An Unknown Road and The Distance I’ve Come, are available on Amazon. She posts published work on http://www.adelaide-whitepetals.blogspot.com