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Age as Measure
by
Patricia Williams


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Listening last night to the Mozart Requiem
made me wonder: what wealth did the world miss,
what concertos, operas, cantatas, might he
have written, had he not died
at age thirty-five.

Stars like Mozart make their mark early,
but prodigies also may quickly fizzle; some can't
produce past a midlife crisis, others
don't start a meteoric rise 'til well past
age thirty-five.

Salmon is best eaten fresh, before it gets fishy;
stews often improve the second day; some cheeses
don't become better, go unintentionally fungal;
fine wine develops with time on the shelf.
Wright still built
beyond age ninety. 
 

© by Patricia Williams.
Used with the author's permission.

 


Patricia Williams and her husband live in central Wisconsin amid farm fields and abundant wildlife. She began writing poetry after retiring from 32 years of teaching Art and Design. Poetry, she feels, is painting with words, both using the same design principles. Patricia's work appears in many journals and anthologies, and she is the author of The Port Side of Shadows, a poetry chapbook about her travels, and Midwest Medley: Places & People, Wild Things & Weather, which received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association. Her most recent book is Rejection to Acceptance: 57 Poems That Finally Made It, a collection of poems with commentary. All of the poems in the book were eventually published, but were initially rejected--three, four, even five times. "It's the old theme of ...If at first you don't succeed," says Patricia. "I am a determined (stubborn!) person."

         



Post New Comment:
lincolnhartford:
I like that inductive style of looking for the common sense of disparate things. Like watching one's life go by. Takes one from the beginning of a good poem to the end.
Posted 01/16/2014 09:47 AM
fer:
I have also wondered the same thing about Mozart...and other composers. Thanks, Patricia, for putting the wonder into poetic form.
Posted 01/16/2014 09:25 AM
Ross Kightly:
Coming up - as I am - to my 69th birthday I always like to think more of Verdi, Tolstoy and Titian rather than Mozart and Keats! I'm not that fond of salmon either, preferring a properly aged fillet or sirloin steak... what a lovely poem! Many thanks for it.
Posted 01/16/2014 04:21 AM


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