From a Middle-aged Poet to Those Testing Deep Word-Waters

I am too old to be fooled by your lies

Though you dressed them in the best disguise

Of words that slip smooth from the tongue

And would have seduced me when I was young

I am too old to be caught off-guard

By the flattery of a wanna-be Bard

Where unchaste word-play is no longer enough

To convince me of matters as serious as Love

I am too old to unlearn well-set traits

I don't have the energy for scholastic debates

Forgive me if I seem antiquated because I rhyme

It is all too true, you can blame Father Time

I am too old to be bothered by years

Or the threat of youth as it disappears

I am not in your debt for an apology

If I am not impressed by your undressed vanity

I am too old to shrug off your mistakes

And I’ll always love you, no matter what it takes

Because someday you’ll look back (if my prayers come true)

To feel like a mother to poets like you

© Janet Martin