Seventy trips round the sun
My life has now journeyed
A race:
Times good, times bad, even times fun
In my body reflected
And face…
Reflection moves to centre stage
On loves and legacy
And how:
Did I with life engage
With passion, efficacy
– Weighed now…
© Andrew Wilson, 2025
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, challenges us – for Laura’s prompts usually offer a challenge in form, if not in subject – to write about “moments in time that stand out from time; they are the momentous days we recall and revisit, year in and year out as holidays, as anniversaries. Formal or informal, they are replayed in memory…” and as to Form – to use Emily Romano’s Memento poetry style:
Poetry Rules:
rhyme scheme abc, abc
2 stanzas
6 lines per stanza
2 tercets (2*3 lines) per stanza
syllable count per tercet: 8,6,2; 8,6,2
Happy birthday!
Thanks John, my birthday was in March but the import of hitting 70 lingers on…
Happy Birthday from me too. Yes, that looks like a face which has experienced a lot of fun! (Being even older, I can relate to your poem very well.)
Thanks Rosemary, my birthday was in March but it will reverberate that I am now 70 for a good while… I don’t like many pictures of myself but it was time for a new icon image so this was it!
Your face, this poem, speak volumes. I see the laugher, the adventurer, the friendly man, yes the handsome man. I’ve got you way beat, however … close to 84 trips ’round the sun. Cheers.
Thanks Helen – your poetry definitely dies not reflect 84 years old though oerhaps 84 years young 🤗
Happy birthday Andrew
Thaks Sadje, it was a few months ago but as you see, it is still resonating…
You’re welcome.
Beautiful poem, Andrew. I like how you used reflect in each stanza and how the meaning shifts. Particularly like the flow of the 2nd stanza. 70 is one of those milestones that would take some time to adjust to. I’m a few years from it at this point.
Thanks Li -glad you liked it – is Laura okay?
Here’s hoping I make 70. Good write, Andrew.
Beautiful writeup! Happy 70th Birthday. ❤️
Thank you Jay…
I’m not far behind you, Andrew; my seventieth trip around the sun will be August 2026. I like the shift in rhyme from the ‘ace’ in the first stanza to the ‘ow’ sounds in the second stanza, evoking a pensive mood.
Thanks Kim – yes the second stanza flowed easier…
“Reflection moves to centre stage”
That seems to be increasingly true as we age.
Well done!
Yes – reflection does increase, but as in your poem (which I couldn’t comment on) I am still insatiably curious. Still working half-time helps keep me interested in the latest trends…
Belated wishes!
And best regards
Thanks Afshan – I have made it to Three Score Years and Ten but hopefully I’m not done yet…
Happy Birthday! Mine was in March as well. As I am older than you, I relate well to this poem.
There’s no need to pull seniority Sara – we Pisceans should stick together – fish of a feather – to shamelessly mix metaphors…