I catch myself in a shop window
pushing my walker,
my bottom sticking out backwards
further than I think,
my crochet sun-hat pulled down
nearly to my eyes.
My pretty, floaty purple dress
doesn’t at all disguise
the weighty body inside. Who IS
this doppelgänger I fail to recognise?
A rueful smile. Ah well,
I guess this is being old.
A much younger woman
pushing a laden shopping trolley
diverts to the nature strip
to let me past.
We share a laugh
at how narrow the path.
‘You look lovely in that dress!’
she throws over her shoulder.
‘Thank you, my love,’ I call back
(she’s a stranger),
‘You’ve made my day!’
She has no idea how much.
Dredging up an old(ish) one, i.e. created in January, for my own prompt for Friday Writings #252: Looking Through Glass at Poets and Storytellers United, where I invite people to write about looking through glass in whatever way they interpret that.
Aww how touching. How these little exchanges and these words can make our day
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteI like your message here Rosemary! to be uplifting and kind to the matured. God bless you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, and Blessed Be to you too.
DeleteI love these little encounters that gift our days - so lovely to share your purple dress moment - my highlight was seeing a local Jack Russell puppy called Dave (and he was wearing his jumper!) Jae
ReplyDeleteYes, such treasures there are in the so-called small things.
DeleteGreat to have that positive reaction. Nothing worse than a teenager's glaring smirk
ReplyDeleteOh indeed yes!
DeleteI can relate to the kindness of strangers. I bet you do look lovely too !
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rall. Well, it's in the eye of the beholder isn't it? And we are always harsher beholders of ourselves than others, I think.
DeleteA nice little piece of positivity to start my weekend. Nicely written Rosemary, I hope that little interaction keeps inspiring you.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to remember to remember it, won't I?
DeleteAs I read this, I wondered if the view through the looking glass of perceiving oneself at different ages that I felt this poem represented was intentional, or was this just my own personal perception?
ReplyDeleteNot intentional, but I know the opening of the third verse does sound, for a minute, as if I'm talking about a younger me rather than a different person. I even thought about a rewrite, to either eliminate that interpretation or make more of it, but then I decided that probably no-one but me would notice anyway. Wrong!
Delete