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Recorded Reading (01:42): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/bc0zrui4fxp4loas06k99/I-Would-Not-be-Young-Again.mp3?rlkey=suuy9k9ricjaatfuapqag69ej&st=q315ppa2&dl=0

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I Would Not Be Young Again

I would not be young again
For all the tea in China
All the ‘gators at equators
All the belles in Carolina

Couldn’t hope to pay me
Even near enough
To ensure that I’d endure
All that awfull stuff

Pantyhose and false eyelashes
Dinner dates and party crashes
Crowd of three, OMG
Got to please the fashion fascists

You could not bribe me to go
Back three or four decades’ span —
Female spry goes wrigglin’ by
Got to worry ’bout my man

Steam’s a-risin’ just like under
Pressure cooker lids
Pets to feed and lawns to seed
And where are all the kids?

I know you imagine I am
Older than mere words can say
Creaky, leaky and antiquey
That is perfectly okay

You might think me past my prime
Little young ‘un — I don’t mind
You’ve got time mountains to climb
Age to me is naught but kind

Solitude a pleasant friend
Silence full of memories
Beginning to end I spend
Each day as it best me please

You go ahead — enjoy it
That treasure you are calling youth
I would not have it back again,
That’s the perfect truth!

*****

This poet presently lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

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