The Age Of Wisdom

That they make a likely pair,

That when a proper age is reached,

Wisdom should be there.

Tell me, when will wisdom show?

When will enlightenment take place?

I wonder if it’s really true

Age is more than lavender and lace.

I want to be prepared for it,

I want to know when I am wise,

So I can sit with chin in hand,

To make sage comments and advise.

Perhaps a furrow in my brow

Will show I’m deep in thought,

Or a distant look within my eyes

Will reveal I think a lot.

I’d like to utter profound words,

That people will write down,

And quote to one another,

Preferably before I’m gone.

I have learned, as I grow older,

My poor brain is quite a joke,

Though, when I was in my teens,

I knew more than both my folks.

This wisdom thing is backwards,

I knew much more when I was young,

There was nothing one could tell me then.

So how come now I feel so dumb?

As it is, I can’t remember

All the things I know I should,

Though I always say, “Gesundheit,”

And I always knock on wood.

But why I do or say those things,

I’ll admit I have forgot,

They happen automatically,

Without a bit of thought.

I wish I could be really wise,

And grow ever wiser as I age,

I’d like to be like Solomon,

And make decisions that amaze.

But now it’s even difficult

Deciding what to have for dinner,

Would Solomon pick pizza pie?

If so, then I might be a winner.

To understand life’s mysteries

Is every human’s goal,

But, you know, I still don’t have a clue,

Even though I am so old.

I doubt I’ll ever figure out

Just how a clock keeps time,

Or how a light switch turns on lights,

Or what makes a doorbell chime.

See, the simplest things still puzzle me,

Though I accept them without question,

But before I go, I’d like to know

About this age and mind connection.

The elderly have lots of losses,

Can wisdom replace those?

Or is wisdom just a word that’s used,

To appease those older souls?

But if, and when, wisdom does set in,

At what vast age must someone be?

I wonder if I’ve reached it yet,

For I have learned to laugh at me.

Virginia (Ginny) Ellis