Tick, tock, tick, tock
Why
Won't
The clock stop?

Tock, tick, tock, tick
Memories?
Nature's trick

I’m thinking of The Orb
and the crusty, mucked crystal
of the transition from child to adult,
scored and soundtracked

excoriated by blunt first loves,
first lives lost, tempest tossed,
into oversensitive abysses
from which there’s “Never loving again!”
except after growing and knowing

Lo-fi made it easier and harder
than these cheeky bleeders,
at least, I know my bare cheeks on film
would take weeks to get back from Boots
and not be broadcast to Kuala Lumpur
in seconds

Age beckons
always
in a way we revulse at
but blunder and succumb to

You becomes we becomes us
as no bad thing
but we must honour
our custodian status
and not impose

The stupid vine grows
where it’ll grow,
we demonstrate this
wonderfully

Like fireflies we burned so bright,
Hope eternal, life inferno
Through the darkness of the blackest night;
We blazed our trails yet now must go
To that place in which we rest our wings,
Humbled, quietly troubled
In reverence to the King of Kings.

So fierce the flame of ageing man,
Regrets eternal, death too certain
Burns up those dreams and best-laid plans;
Leaves just the ash of our untruths,
Fading, sadly aching
For that firefly light burnt out for you.

TS Lefort

Toughened glass

Women like me

Still around

You just can't see

We pick up names

As we go through life

Daughter Mother Sister Wife

Our role is often mapped and clear

Then we get to fifty and disappear

We want to shout I'm over here

We're not glam, we're not glum

Just somebody's mum

A little bit shopworn

But we did our bit

We brought up the kids

Took a whole load of sh*t

So please don't ignore us

We matter too

Just you wait till it happens to you

And it will!

Your tresses are not smooth and silky
Lady..you have got grey hair!!
Your skin is breaking
There are lines on your forehead.
Why you are so skinny?
Don't you eat well...


You don't seem pristine,
Just look at your ravishing friend.

Yes...i do agree to the above delineation
But ...you don't know many facts.

That I was wide-awake uncountable nights
for my little ones,
Be it the school project or making that perfect attire for my princess's fancy dress
Or those sleepless nights with ear ache , fever or growing pains.

I have sometimes heard you talking about me from behind.
But have that golden heart to come and know my plight....
I would share with you the story of my pale visage
As  I have always loved my family more before self.

Ageing is a natural phenomena
Come to me I will guide you
Know that those lines and silver strands are signs of my eternal beauty,
But I can't blame your ignorance,as it is known by few.

Bina Mukherjee

They never tell you when you're young
That you lose your friends to life

At the dawn of my half century
I sometimes squint to see who's moving
whose heads pop up above the wheat and weeds
whose flower is still blooming,

and it is there I find you
standing taller than them all
drinking in the sunlight
no man has made you fall

and no man has ever owned you
though all of them endeavored
including me, my younger self
and I lost you forever

Do not hang me for my folly
for I was younger then
and loving you naively
shouldn't be a capital offence

I am worthy of you now
but will you ever come
or will you sit there swaying
never needing anyone,
drinking in the sun

A badge of great honor
We wear it with pride,
They say it’s an insult
But we’ll let that one slide.

A boomer’s a doer
A person with Pep,
Marching alone
To their own special step.

The children of Giants
Who lived through a war
Instilling in us
The passion to soar.

They call us great bores
Whose opinions don’t count,
Incongruous has-beens
Our words they discount.

Little they know
It’s a wheel that does turn,
With each generation
Another to spurn.

Suffice it to add
We’re fine in our skin,
Whatever is said
They’ll still be our kin.

Millennials are brash
They message and tweet,
But most just innocuous,
In-fact rather sweet.

They look at their parents
The way we did ours,
With fresh consternation
Like brief summer showers.

When all’s said and done
For boomers like us,
There’s nothing more pleasing
Than life without fuss.

They say sixty is just a state of mind
Those who claim that must be blind,
Furrowed brows and bulging nose
Eyesight failing, even close.

Conversations turned to health
Soaring bills, dwindling wealth,
Simple tasks ever harder
Working out now a non-starter.

Yet the mind as sharp as ever
All those years makes one so clever,
Entrenched Opinions by the score
Others’ views an awful bore.

On the bright side life is freer
Gone the children, free to swear,
Drink more beer, lush on wine
Sleep it off in your own time.

Just enjoy this phase of life
yes more painful, but less strife,
Silver hair is now great fashion
Making up for that lost passion.

Read more books, drink that wine
Savor life, don’t youth pine,
What has been is but a blur,
What’s to come will your heart stir.