MY SOUL HAS A HAT
I counted my years
and realized that I have
Less time to live by,
Than I have lived so far.
I feel like a child who won a pack of candies: at first he ate them with pleasure
But when he realized that there was little left, he began to taste them intensely.
I have no time for endless meetings
where the statutes, rules, procedures & internal regulations are discussed,
knowing that nothing will be done.
I no longer have the patience
To stand absurd people who,
despite their chronological age,
have not grown up.
My time is too short:
I want the essence,
my spirit is in a hurry.
I do not have much candy
In the package anymore.
I want to live next to humans,
very realistic people who know
How to laugh at their mistakes,
Who are not inflated by their own triumphs
and who take responsibility for their actions.
In this way, human dignity is defended
and we live in truth and honesty.
It is the essentials that make life useful.
I want to surround myself with people
who know how to touch the hearts of those whom hard strokes of life
have learned to grow with sweet touches of the soul.
Yes, I’m in a hurry.
I’m in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.
I do not intend to waste any of the remaining desserts.
I am sure they will be exquisite,
much more than those eaten so far.
My goal is to reach the end satisfied
and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.
We have two lives
and the second begins when you realize you only have one.
~ Poem by Mario de Andrade (San Paolo 1893-1945) Poet, novelist, essayist and musicologist.
One of the founders of Brazilian modernism.
The moment I realized that I had lived more years of my life than (reasonably) to be expected still to come was a bit like being slapped in the face with a cold fish. An awakening.
You know what the worst of it is? My image of it? Doors closing. Yes, doors closing. Once upon a time, when I squandered TIME with abandon because there was so much ahead of me, doors were still waiting to be opened. Oh, so many doors. Which way to go? Never mind. The future is mine. Yes, sure. Till the future is the past. I literally can’t believe what’s happened. I can hear the sound of all those doors behind me slamming shut. Good job I am of a sunny temperament. Otherwise I might cut it short. But then who wants to spite those doors that still remain open?
U
I agree. There are always more doors open ahead of us than those that have shut behind us.
loved this piece of writing rummy.
especially the time wasted in meetings that went on forever and nothing done. how many of those I sat through!
so ridiculous really. egos massaging other egos over nothing.
all the things we’re told that are/WERE so important.
now … TIME itself has become what’s truly important to me. 🙂
Among the most important developments in my life post retirement is how I am managing the lockdown. Others I know are blowing gaskets all over the place whereas I am being disgustingly cheerful for most of them!
I could easily have a similar visiting card – all those things I don’t have to worry about any more but have left behind me. Yes, lots of doors have closed but I opened all the ones I was interested in, and there are still doors to open in the future – holidays (once the virus has become a trivial threat), hill walking, films, music, books, delicious food. Plenty to look forward to.
Go ahead and get some printed. You will get some laughs for sure.
Your new visiting card brought me smiles and I like the thoughts expressed in the poem. I am reading a book with a somewhat similar theme, titled Falling Upward, about how to become closer to God in the second half of our lives. A man I consider wise, a Franciscan priest for 40 years, Richard Rohr, wrote it. Be well my friend.
Terra recently posted..Photos of my birthday and some ideas
That is interesting. I shall explore that book. My life too took a spiritual slant from my early forties and that path has sustained me now well into the second half of my seventies. About being well, I really have no choice but be!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful poem.
I’ve found myself thinking along the same lines during some of my social distancing walks.
I hope all is well with you, Ramana.
Entirely my pleasure Marianna. Knowing your background I have nothing but admiration for the way you handle your life. Yes indeed, all is well with me and I am even enjoying the solitude of the lockdown.
It seems you are the happiest person in the world.
Perhaps not quite Tikno. This fellow beats me to that qualification. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthieu_Ricard
The poem is beautiful and I try and live it. I had to cut a long term friend out of my life recently, I had no time for incessant negativity and outrageous demands on my time and attention. Life is too short to indulge the vampires of energy. I have only so much to give and I’d rather give in joy.
XO
WWW
I too don’t have any time for toxic people in my life and totally cut them off from mine.
I’ve had many periods in my life, that have had to be readjusted. In a way this one is no different, except some of my “choice” and “freedom” has been put into disarray.
As you know Rummuser, I finally found a way through just this week…and even though New Zealand is possibly going to take up another level closer to ground zero, and there are additional choices now for me, I’m still happy to take it “slower”….
Catherine de Seton recently posted..Finally me less problematic
Hooray and I say go all out for it on the slow lane however.