LIFE Poem: Awakening at Seventy-six, by Kathleen Chamberlin

Dreams dissolve as daylight dawns
Leaving me stranded on a shoal of uncertainty
Slowly my mind registers familiar sensations
The soft pillow cradling my head,
The comforting quilt that hugs me,
The firm mattress supporting me.
Leaving behind fleeting remnants of dreams delivered in sepia tones,
I open my eyes to another beginning.
I burrow deeper into the safe comfort of my quilt
Reluctant to breathe in the day,
But the light filtering through gauze curtains acts as my lighthouse,
Piercing my mind fog, guiding me through the waves
Of should and musts and wills
Breaking against the shoreline of consciousness
With a sigh,, I toss aside the warmth
And step forth purposefully
To choose garments,
To run a brush through my hair,
To gaze at the face staring back at me in the mirror
Never asking “Who’s the fairest of them all?”
It was never me.
The lines etched across my forehead
Are a map of a lifetime journey
Charting challenges met, loves lost in turbulent seas, routes too treacherous to travel
I meet the years courageously, defiance in my eyes
Exploding in ephemeral stillness.

Author: poetryfest

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