The Perspective of Time
If I could go back in time
and speak to my teenage self,
I thought last night,
I would say to her
When you are 70,
You will define happiness as
lying half asleep at 5:00 a.m.
listening to soft, gentle
snoring on your left,
listening to a woodthrush in the distant woods
and hearing the early songs of wrens
and cardinals and towhees through four open windows
on your right,
with a yellow cat curled up at your feet.
Helen Etters
3/4/17
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How did the teenage you define happiness? How different is it from the above?
I don’t think my teenage self even thought of it. She would perhaps reply
“You’re nuts. I’m never going to be that old and dotty.”