Acting My Age
“You’re not a giddy teenager
So why can’t you act you’re age?”
I looked at him heartbroken
Then my body shook in a rage
“Being passionate about life
Means I am acting like a child?
You demand that I be demure
Does that mean being meek and mild?
No, no, my dear, I want to shout
I want to be crazy and mad
To stick my head out the window
Belt out love songs that make me glad
I want to let my body move
To a belly dance drumming sound
I want to feel young and alive
Make love without hushing the sound
On days when I water the yard
I want to get wet to the core
As I point the hose to the sky
The wetness makes me crave for more
I want to see my sun catcher
Make the rainbows dance on my wall
And have multicolored sweet dreams
I want to wander through them all
When you take me for a long ride
I’ll let the wind dance with my hair
I want the music to be loud
What if people just stop and stare?
I want to laugh till my sides hurt
And the tears are just streaming down
I want people to be happy
So I play the part of the clown
They say life begins at forty
Now I know that it does for me
Don’t you dare try to bring me down
You know this 'girl' needs to feel free
Peter Pan’s not the only one
Who will stay forever this young
He’s got me for good company
You know, we have songs yet unsung
So…please, if I am eccentric
And acting a little insane
Remember that I’m passionate
So please, I beg you, don’t complain
And when I want to be ravished
Or to play a naughty love game
Don’t say that was for way back then
Don’t you dare try to make me tame
I desire to ingest life
At a mad and frenetic pace
I am desperate to feel the rain
Splashing down on my upturned face
You know that I must be sun kissed
And to spray on coconut spray
To do handstands in seawater
And to bask in this sun drenched day
I want to cry when things move me
I want to feel, to taste, to touch
I want to giggle like a girl
When something does please me so much
I’m sorry I disappoint you
Sorry I don’t act forty five
But before this life is over
I want to feel vibrant…alive!
Yet, I will try not to shame you
Try to tone it down just a bit
But my dear, this fact you must know
In your box, I surely don’t fit
Yes, you may think I’m 'immature'
And I may act much like a teen
But I’d rather be wild and free
Than captive to rules like a queen."
Eileen Manassian Ghali
Copyright © Eileen Manassian | Year Posted 2013
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