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An assurance comes with aging.
Habits long used for safety
slowly slip away,
some by decision,
some by accident.
A freedom comes
with letting go what
is not important anymore.
I have given up permanents,
high heels, skirts, mascara,
even lipstick and rouge,
face cream and girdles.
I have given up diets,
feeling guilty, and shame.
Also excuses, and
for the most part, judgement.
I do not ask for explanation
so often anymore.
I say, “It doesn’t matter.”
From All That Matters (2018).
Used here with permission.
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Peggy Trojan, after a career of teaching English, retired to the north woods of Wisconsin. There, she and her husband, David, with the help of family, built a house next to a trout stream. Peggy stays busy writing and making jam from the raspberry patch she carefully and lovingly tends. Peggy is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, and is the author of two full-length poetry collections and six chapbooks. Learn more about her here.
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Anastasia:
Mascara is still important, but the rest of it has happily faded from my days!
Posted 03/15/2024 10:10 AM
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Lori Levy:
Like your list of things to give up in maturity.
Posted 03/13/2024 12:52 PM
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Judy:
I am a fan, Peggy--goodbye mascara!
Posted 03/13/2024 11:17 AM
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peggy.turnbull:
Maturity has its compensations, as Peggy succinctly points out.
Posted 03/13/2024 11:16 AM
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Tom Sharpe:
Never cared for lipstick, doesnt clean off shirt collars well.
Posted 03/13/2024 10:18 AM
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Janice Galt:
So true! And the increasing gratitude for the gift of life itself. Thank you, Peggy, though I still use lipstick!
Posted 03/13/2024 09:06 AM
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