A Poem by Glome

I'M EVERY AGE I'VE EVER BEEN

( I have put eternity in their hearts Eccl 3:11)



The first three years

were filled with tears

& laughter & colors & every sound

& sitting & standing & falling down




Then around four I focused in

Why, the world was filled with women & men

& kids & animals that all had needs

I wasn't the center, or even the lead



After accepting this terrible fix

I was ready for five & then on to six

I learned to leave Mom & adjusted to school

I learned to act right & to act a fool

& then to my life I added seven

But I kept hold of one

& two through six

Cause I needed those ages

to add to the mix

Eight was great

Nine was fine

Ten through pre teen all still mine



I just kept growing & living my days

Guided by God & learning His ways

The things that He taught me are still in my heart

& as I get older they're playing a part



The day finally got here that all parents dread

But I was delighted, great hopes filled my head

Up through the years hormones bubble & boil

& burst on my scene with trouble & toil



The reason's soon clear, just too many years

All squeezed together with joys & fears

My body's too small! Quick, give me some space!

Ahhhh! God answers prayer, my growth's keeping pace

With the number of years that show on my face



But . . . the hormones still bubble & splash in my eyes

My Parents look different not loving & wise.

Could it be I saw clearer back when I was ten?

Nahhh! That's the problem, I was stupid back then.



What's wrong with my parents? So locked into place

There's a wonderful world but they never change pace

They say the same things from morning to night

What's wrong is still wrong & what's right is still right



But thanks be to God

My parents kept growing

By the time I was twenty

Their wisdom was showing



Finally, my 20s! I'm on my own

This world is a mess but I'm almost grown

They are so lucky I'm on the way

I'll clean up this mess & put it away!



Well, we're running the world now, the 40s are great

We have all the answers but . . . WAIT . . . Wait . . .

What happened to time? Something's not right!

The date shows a decade slipped by over night



I Skipped the 30s! . . . No . . . my children are grown

It must have happened . . . their whole life is known

by the pictures we took & the wrinkles we wear

Our tubby tummies & thinning hair



I thought life would be longer

My bank account stronger

My dreams all completed

My sin life defeated

Maybe I missed a turn on the way

Where are you God? Are you with me today?



In my 50s I learned I didn't know squat

Though I'd piled up the lessons I'd daily been taught

A little bell rang in my memory pool

"Thinking themselves wise they became a fool"



Ohhhh . . . maybe I'm wiser, maybe I grew

I know I don't know what I knew that I knew

When I was just 40 & filled with myself

The self that I've since put away on the shelf



Then in my 60s I learned to listen

& remembered the tears on a face that glistened

Of my eight year old friend that had come to play

I'd hurt her feelings & she'd gone away



Oh friend, who for years in my heart did lay

I finally heard your tears today

& when I did I began to pray

"Lord wherever she is, this eight year old woman

Pour out your love to the child she's becoming"



So-o-o . . . we are becomings . . . for all of our life

Always becoming through joys & strife

The foolish more foolish, the wise more wise

As God offers sight to our blinded eyes



The young have lost touch with this poem by now

It's surpassed their cup & they don't know how

To be an age they've never been

To identify with all old women & men



To be all ages is a thing reserved

For those who the gift of aging has served

glome 2003


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