Time

All Poems, Animals/Insects, For Children, Gardens, Seasons, Stories, Time

Heat Hangs in the Air

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Heat hangs in the air.

A sticky bog to slog, move forward.

Dampening shirts, drying mouths.

But, animals go about their business.

Nary a complaint.

Robins, wrens chirp as though in competition.

Ducks, geese gather by the pond.

A fawn gazes up at me from a bush.

As though sorry I’m wading through goo.

A few Poplar seedpods float by.

Inviting me to make a wish or two.

A pink and gray butterfly hovers atop a coneflower.

The beebalm planted last summer, sings triumphant.

Stretching out and up in glorious profusion.

Red, pink, lavender mops.

Tall rag dolls, hair unkempt, in strings.

Covering eyes, noses, mouths.

Mysterious, exotic.

Waving honey bees in to drink.

Sweet nectar quenching thirst.

Could they spread the word to hummingbirds

before summer days dispersed?

 

Lynn Benjamin

June 27, 2024

Aging, All Poems, Animals/Insects, Change, Natural Beauty, Seasons, Time, Trees

I Shake my Head

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I shake my head at my youthful self.

Longing to stay in bed till nine.

Despite sunshine poking through panes.

For now, when I see first gleams of light, I sit straight up.

Wanting to catch them.

Jump forward, follow them.

Close the door behind me.

Bask in sights, smells.

Linden leaves, roses.

Lilacs, honeysuckles.

Rhythms of the season.

Caws, cheeps, trills.

Honks, hammers, vibratos.

Early rising birds.

Claiming soil, sky.

I want to hear morning symphonies.

Inhale perfumed lands.

Before the rush of traffic.

Humming engines, shrieking brakes.

Students parking cars.

Rushing toward classes.

Before the goose family arises.

Hatchlings in a comfy ball.

Fuzz greying into feathers.

Before the day swings underway.

Wakes up, stretches, yawns.

How much time have I left to find?

How many unspent dawns?

 

Lynn Benjamin

May 25, 2024

Aging, All Poems, Change, Friendship, Loss, Natural Beauty, Time, Worry

Peace Lily Unfurling

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The peace lily, unfurling.

In time to reveal serenity to the people who sent it.

Just over a year ago.

Marking the loss of Bob’s mother.

Unbeknownst to them, a few days before unveiling her stone.

Strange, these coincidences.

Surprising us like that.

Also, bringing joy.

On re-encounter at the very moment of bloom.

Framed by two flowering trees just outside the window.

Empress and honeysuckle.

Both diffusing perfumes into the room.

Where we four sit.

Face to face.

Breaking bread.

Sprinting after conversations.

Like intellectual athletes.

Literature, politics, travel.

Finally, acknowledging the shadow.

Looming over us all.

The what next?

How do you prepare for the unknown?

Rely on your parents’ experiences?

Take advice from middle-aged children?

Wait till the unexpected pushes you?

Or prepare in anticipation?

Stay in place?

Move to smaller quarters?

Who has the right answer?

When possibilities endless, overwhelming.

Just hard to fathom our story ends

like any good novel or play.

What fortune to have a hand in it.

To mold like a piece of clay.

 

Lynn Benjamin

May 8, 2024

 

Aging, All Poems, Cousins, Family, Friendship, Stories, Time

What Could Rejuvenate More?

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What could rejuvenate more than meeting with cousin/friends?

Who invited you to join them?

Catch up over dinner?

Then to a movie.

Perfect combination of socializing, analyzing.

On an April evening beyond compare.

So, we agreed.

Tackling old topics.

Jumping into new ones.

Plumbing unexplored depths.

Like teens chatting the night away.

Not pausing to take a breath.

Quick, animated, with gusto.

Halting when the film started.

Resuming on the sidewalk after.

Even though not possible to finish.

Having to text and email into the next day.

Very simply, too much to say.

Time raced ahead, invisible,

leaving four of us behind.

Perhaps sending a strong message

meant to penetrate, remind.

Rejuvenation,

a sensation in the mind.

For time travels one direction only

to which all of us, destined.

If feeling youthful for an evening,

old age we undermine,

then even for an instant,

let the clock rewind!

 

Lynn Benjamin

April 27, 2024

Aging, All Poems, Electronics, Humor, Loss, Time

Certain I’d Hear Back

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I waited, certain I’d hear back from the Apple Store.

That my new Mac Air was ready for pick-up.

That the data migration was complete.

From the Mac Pro to the Air.

Transfer decided upon to prevent problems.

Before the old laptop failed.

For it was from 2016.

Computer years are like dog years, Bob explained.

If each one is about seven, your laptop is aging fast.

Chips have changed.

Models have moved on.

It’s harder to update apps.

Nevermind I was attached to my machine.

Originally using it for work.

Taking it with me on trips.

Giving it an honored place on my desk.

It was easy to instruct.

Swift, reliable.

But, those warnings about future health, dire.

So, I waited, but no call came.

Which meant another morning.

Spent in the Apple Store.

Where I’m sure I’ll wander

among shiny new machines,

calculate my own old age,

and consider what that means.

 

Lynn Benjamin

April 4, 2024

 

All Poems, Animals/Insects, For Children, Natural Beauty, Seasons, Time

Confusion

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After winter’s dark afternoons, I’m confused.

To see the sun high at 5:30 pm.

Now that Daylight Saving Time is official.

I’m torn between going inside.

Getting ready for the evening.

Or staying out, absorbing last drops of light.

To watch daffodils tipping bonnets.

Yellow and lavender crocuses waving.

Lenten roses offering up nectar to bees.

Magnolias and forsythias bursting into bloom.

Turtles making debuts on a board.

Frogs sunning on the shore.

To listen to two geese honking love tunes.

As they protect their nest from intruders.

Ducks quacking between pokes into a pond.

Like plants and animals, I want warmth.

On face and hands and feet.

Wishing to bloom and roam.

That, tomorrow’s plan.

For Bob and I fly to California.

Where time will change once more.

Refunding three whole hours.

But, who is keeping score?

 

Lynn Benjamin

March 18, 2024

Aging, All Poems, Humor, Stories, Time

Child Tickets

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I activated child tickets by mistake, said Bob to the conductor.

On the New Jersey transit train to Trenton.

But, they’re the same price as for seniors, correct?

The collector smiled.

Adding, you can be child-like, but not childish.

As he placed his scanner against the QR code on the phone.

Two buzzes acknowledging payments.

Again, he grinned.

Good-bye, young ones!

In that second I thought of Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

Felt myself upon a stage.

I hope this not the seventh stage.

Sans teeth, sans eyes….sans everything.

But merely a senior moment.

Fares revamped to cyber ping.

 

Lynn Benjamin

March 16, 2024

 

Adolescence, Aging, All Poems, Change, Children, Family, Grandchildren, Time

Who Can Tell Me?

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Who can tell me where the years have gone?

Didn’t I make countless trips to New York?

To help Roseanne with babies?

Change diapers?

Push them in strollers?

Wheel them to Central Park?

To the Museum of Natural History?

Is it possible I sit today on a subway car with teens?

Heading to see a musical?

Do they, too, sense the flash of time?

Or are they so occupied with themselves, they don’t notice?

Don’t see my wrinkled face?

Old age gait?

But, we don’t discuss me or things past.

Just the theme of today’s play.

Kimberly Akimbo.

Ironic, the topic, time.

The rush of it due to illness.

Whose message, enjoy the moments you have.

So, they do.

Focusing on what to eat,

on laughing, making fun.

A tender, gossamer gathering.

Another memory spun.

 

Lynn Benjamin

March 15, 2024

 

Aging, All Poems, Cousins, Death, Family, Loss, Time, Wisdom

Excellent Visit

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It was an excellent visit.

With my ninety-year old cousin.

At her Assisted Living Residence.

Where she maneuvered a walker.

To a seating area by a window.

With white wicker chairs.

A place to converse.

Catch up on goings-on.

Her children, grandchildren, mine.

Her first great-grandson.

Her sister, my siblings.

Discuss trips, past and present.

Her grandson’s visit to London.

To see the Harry Potter village.

The same month she and her late husband used to go.

It was, indeed, a pleasant meeting.

With smiles surpassing sound.

Till she said with wistful eyes

all her friends lie in the ground.

She has always been a magnet

for mates to flock around.

So her statement from the blue

sent a message most profound.

Savor all relationships.

Clocks don’t cease counting down.

Who knows who’ll be left above,

who’ll be buried neath a mound?

 

Lynn Benjamin

March 12, 2024

 

All Poems, Birthdays, Family, Humor, In-laws, Time

Daylight Saving and Manny

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Today my father-in-law, Manny, would turn one hundred.

He would like the ring of that number.

The sound of the word century.

But likely, he would wrinkle his nose at Daylight Saving.

Falling smack on his birthday.

Robbing him of an hour’s rest.

Disrupting meal time schedules.

Interfering with circadian rhythms.

Changing established patterns.

Losing light in the morning.

Never mind light lingering later.

He’d ask, what about babies?

Rising earlier, waking parents?

But, Manny wouldn’t trouble himself long.

He’d just adjust the way he viewed it.

While many anguish over loss of time,

our Manny would wryly smile,

collecting all the hours stolen

to store in an age saving pile.

 

Lynn Benjamin

March 10, 2024