On Aging

Despising my dull, listless time as a child, 
     I once wished myself to be fully-grown:
now grown, no longer am I as beguiled
     by growing up (as old age I bemoan);

the wisdom of many long years is sublime;
     but the salad days of youth eternal
are what makes songs of Poesy rhyme,       
     as shedding of life's leaves feels infernal.
                     
Therefore, be in the winter of your life
     with love: for love restores you like a tonic,     
carves out the melancholy like a sharp knife
     (to hush the voices so dark and demonic).
 
To age well, live well: so love and be loved,
and bar not the comfort of your beloved.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2021

Poem

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Radice Avatar
April 26, 2021 at 11:54 AM
I agree with Kim here Ngoc, the message in the last 2 lines hit home. A great sonnet. Cheers - Gary
Nguyen Avatar
April 26, 2021 at 5:41 PM
Thank you so much, Gary, for also warmly approving of my latest sonnet--and for the praise, as well! As with Kim, I am also very pleased that its rhymed couplet resonates with you, too. Needless to say, I am thus heartened and encouraged by the gracious adulation that you both are showering on me and my sonnet. For that, I thank you both without end! ~Ngoc
Rodrigues Avatar
April 26, 2021 at 4:07 AM
Ngoc, you have penned a fantastic sonnet here! Those final lines say so much! Each stage of life, the love... A fave for me.
Nguyen Avatar
April 26, 2021 at 6:34 AM
Thank you for warmly receiving my latest sonnet, Kim--and for the compliment, too! Also, I am delighted that my lines move you so favorably (and are a fave for you). Love, too, is universal like the stages of life. ~Ngoc
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