There Are Good Things About Being Forty

A poem about being forty years old: There are good things about being forty: Still young and attractive, still Free to try again, Knowing what we know now. Not so bad being forty: Not old and sick, not Dying, but still Close enough to understand. Having grown children, Watching parents die, Looking equally ahead and behind, Knowing failure, inner weakness, disappointment, Knowing bitterly our limitations, Knowing death's bitter beauty, Watching the black sun rise with the night; No longer naive, not yet wise,