Lover’s Journey

As you remember it
You came into this life
Consumed with Passion—
Loving loudly and with gusto
Many things that
Made their way across
Your newborn path.
Choosing for a mother
One whose passions
Were expressed
In raging at her children
And in playing
Chopin etudes
On the piano,
Your passionate
Expressions often
Triggering her
Homicidal fury,
You learned to hide
The things that gave
You pleasure. Hid them,
Then forgot where you
Had put them, then
Forgot you ever had them.
At the gateway to your
Elderhood, as memory returns,
You pray a prayer of gratitude
That though there was
Some heartache on the path
You’ve hung on long enough
To get to feel how sweet
Life’s been to you so far
You eagerly anticipate
The full reclaiming of your
Birthright: a life infused with
Loud and raucous Passion,
Unimpeded by propriety
Unencumbered by shame,
Unblemished by judgement.