Friday, February 3, 2012

More Menopause Poems


Soul Mate, after Twenty Years
Jennifer Boire

Sleepless in the night, you toss and I turn.
Such a gentle man, even in your sleep
you laugh and chuckle, while I grind my teeth.
Slow to anger, you are mute sometimes,
at other times eloquent as mint,
sharp as old cheddar.

Husband and wife, we have shared
first a captain’s bed, then
a double, then a queen’s, now a bed
fit for a king, And blessed it with our wandering
hands, enlivened it with our howling,
whispering, smooching.

Ever since that first kiss of recognition
I felt you calling me home,
that feeling of two halves clicking in,
then struggle as we lit out, each on our own paths,
and babies didn’t come as easily
as we had predicted, but we both got
a chance to finish our higher education
and find meaningful work
before the babies came.

Long nights of walking up and down
halls with a colicky baby cradled on your arm,
or me, sleepy, nursing or crawling after toddlers,
and somehow we are still here, still together,
ready for a new adventure, two teenagers
filling the house with their boisterous
love, and moody noise.

O let us linger longer into old age. Let us
Still hanker after each other, alive with desire.
Let us not hamper each other.
Let us each fill our selves separately
and come together to share
what we have found.
In ups and downs and disappointing
tired, cranky, or high uplifted times
let us live, rooted, in love.