I am Too Old for This Shit

I am too old for this shit.

I am too old

to think

I don’t deserve

a new set

of unbroken dishes.

Too old

to be disgusted

with what I see in my mirror.

I am too old

to put up with people

who take and take

without a care for me.

I am too old

to not believe in myself.

I am too old

to continue

to mold my life

on what

I think

others think

I should or

should not do.

Too old

to beat myself up

because it was safer

if I did it first

instead of waiting for Them.

But they,

they are long gone,

and I,

I am too old for this shit.

Because I am too young.

I am too young

to spend the rest of my life

wallowing in what they thought of me.

I am too young

not to love myself,

my strong body,

my sparkling smile, and

my kind eyes.

I am too young

not to rejoice

in each new gift

of a day.

I am too young

too ignore my capacity

for making a difference in this life.

So I wade into the ocean of change,

watching the warm water eddy around my legs,

feeling comfort in the movement

that loosens the dung of my past

and carries it away.

It is time

to break through the chrysalis

and starting living a new life.

Because I am too old for

that shit.