Friday, 3 January 2025

 

I thought this poem by Maya Angelou rather amusing.


When I was in my younger days,

I weighed a few pounds less,

I needn’t hold my tummy in

To wear a belted dress.

 

But now that I am older,

I’ve set my body free;

There’s the comfort of elastic

Where once my waist would be.

 

Inventor of those high-heeled shoes

My feet have not forgiven;

I have to wear a nine now,

But used to wear a seven.

 

And how about those pantyhose –

They’re sized by weight, you see,

So how come when I put them on

The crotch is at my knee?

 

I need to wear these glasses

As the print’s been getting smaller;

And it wasn’t very long ago

I know that I was taller.

 

Though my hair has turned to gray

And my skin no longer fits,

On the inside, I’m the same old me,

It’s the outside’s changed a bit.


I would add that policemen and doctors are impossibly young, little more than school children, bottle tops are screwed on improbably tightly, pounds and kilos weigh twice as much as they used to, and distances have stretched.

Growing older is such fun!

60 comments:

  1. My kitchen counters get higher each year.

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  2. We have to go with the flow and make the best of it.

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  3. Thank you for sharing this. It is one of my favorite Maya Angelou poems. Always brings a smile, as it did today :)

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  4. ahhh yes...
    though my hair has turned to grey and my skin no longer fits :( Of all the issues you raised, the wrinkles are the worst, the least hideable.

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    Replies
    1. Of course, some go for cosmetic surgery, but that wipes out all the character and looks very plastic.

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  5. I wonder how tall I am now., how much I've shrunk. I am bound to have lost some height.

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    1. I know I have, but I don't know how tall/short I am now.

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  6. BUT, as my father used to say, consider the alternative ....

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    1. Of course. It could be a whole lot worse, or just not be at all . . .

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  7. I was much shocked to discover that I have lost an inch and a half this year! Not at the waist which would have been thrilling, but in height!

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    1. It's always in the wrong places, isn't it? Spit!

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  8. OMG! This is wonderful and it's ME. Yup. I've switched to wearing elastic wasted pants and shorts. LOL!

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    1. So much more comfortable, but such a shock if you have to wear something fitted occasionally.

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  9. Thank you for posting this. I liked it so much, I posted it to my sister-in-law and several teacher friends.

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  10. Oh those bottle tops! Whenever I buy bottles of anything now I ask the salesperson to please loosen that cap for me. Great poem!

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    Replies
    1. I've got a bottle opening device which usually does the trick.

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  11. So funny and so true
    Alison in Wales x

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  12. While those panty hose and high heels are not an issue for me, the rest are. One of our major supermarkets has the tops of milk plastic so tight, I need to use a tea towel to get enough grip to open it, or ask one of my lads.

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    Replies
    1. Use the strength of the lads - they've got plenty to spare!

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  13. Yes, yes, yes and yes.
    Sigh.

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  14. I often think our bus drives don't look old enough to be behind the wheel, I love this poem it describes ageing so well.

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    Replies
    1. I can't tell people's ages any more, unless they're under 10.

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  15. Absolutely true ! except my feet and I didn't shrink ! lol

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  16. Your last sentence says it all. As I get down on my hands and knees to brush the cat and then have to figure out how to get up.

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    Replies
    1. . . . and Precious looks at you and wonders what you're worrying about.

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  17. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was a wise woman who knew a lot about life but also knew how to have fun - not taking herself too seriously.

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    1. Very true. Too many people are too serious too much of the time . . . . and that's too many toos!

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    2. Add extra ts and it becomes "toot-toot-toot" like a miniature railway.

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  18. ditto for me, every thing mentioned in the poem and all of your comment. 80 and still shrinking, last year I found I could not wipe the top of the cabinets, my reach has shrunk by 4 inches in the 40 years I have wiped them. I gave up panty hose 25 years ago. but I do love in Florida. I wore pants to work and used knee highs or longer skirts

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    1. I took to trousers and flat shoes quite early.

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  19. Maya Angelou is one of my favorite . Her poems and insights are delightful. This one included.

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  20. You've actually featured one of my favorite bits of writing from Maya Angelou. The older I get the more I appreciate the truth of it.

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  21. Men don't go bald. The hair just grows on your ears and out of your nose.

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  22. My feet refused to wear high heels even in my teens, and my weight has been up and down a few times over the years... One of the few advantages of now approaching 70 is that I don't let it bother me as much any more! ;-)

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  23. It was good when we bade farewell to those stressful days of our youth when we felt we had to suck in our stomachs!

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  24. I LOVE that - I laughed out loud several time while reading through. xx

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    1. Laughter is necessary and so good for us!

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  25. Thank you for the laughs, Janice, although there is definitely more than just an hint of truth in that poem.
    I've never been good with bottle tops, though :-) xxx

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    1. I've played the piano throughout my life and thought my hands should remain quite strong - I thought wrong!

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  26. Age catches up with each of us. Either you laugh or you cry. Sometimes I need to do both. But at least one of these were way before I was a senior -I never did like high heels, even when I was younger I preferred flats.

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    1. I'm sure your feet thank you for being sensibly shod throughout their life!

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  27. I love this - thank you for sharing!

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  28. I needed this attitude today. Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. It does us all good to know we're not alone in our 'tribulations'!

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  29. I'd not come across this poem before ... and I enjoyed it.
    Certainly describes the ageing process well.

    All the best Jan

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    1. It's something most of us probably thought would never apply personally!

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  30. In my mind I'm still somewhere between 30 and 40 years old. My physical body points out my delusional thinking every day.

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    Replies
    1. So long as the brain is still young, there's hope!

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