An Inference of Age

I'm old(er)    
  and proud of every laugh line      
    a crow's talon has carved        
    into this olive landscape        
       
My mother was buried at 34;      
    never lived to see me graduate        
    marry, or give birth        
      to the next generation of her      
       
I remember thinking        
  how old she was      
But, recognized my ignorance        
  when I actually matured        
       
I recognize yours too-      
  and laugh ( though not deridingly )      
    enough to fill a Universe;        
      you're ridiculing the very galaxy      
      you're orbiting yourself;      
       
      incomprehension at its finest:      
       proud and unexperiened        
       
By the time you dock        
  ( and you will live that long )      
on that golden Death Star      
   of middle-age to live it out    
   I'll be long into another lifetime;      
       
Young, free      
  maybe even a titanium ring      
    on a moth's wing      
Or, perhaps a young girl        
    in Bangladesh        
       
Regardless-      
       
I won't be mocking your age      
  ( that will be someone else )      
  or scoffing physical attributes:      
   aesthetics, a handicap, disease,        
   mental illness, intellect, years        
       
I undoutedly learned that lesson        
  in a past existence        
because it never once occurred      
  to act such a way in this one        
  ( though I've been falsely accused );
 
I know better      
       
I'm old(er)      
 and proud of every laugh line      
    a crow's talon has carved      
    into this olive landscape      
       
Because I'm alive at 58      
  been blessed with children      
  lived to see them graduate        
     enter relationships and give birth        
      to the next generation of me      
       
And ( no, I'm not finished yet ) -      
       
because Love is my greatest reward      
  So "Why should I be unhappy?"      
When "Every parcel of my being        
   is in full bloom."      
       
I probably have less life to live      
  than I've lived so far; that's okay-      
I can honestly say,        
       
Aye! here's the rub;      
  the two things I prayed for came true      
  my mirror is all but polished too      
       
My genuine wish for you, young(er)      
  counterpart, is no less than the same;      
Wisdom commands it of sincerity         
  ( though in ignorance        
        you may not yet believe )      
 
~  
 
#Rumi