A Number of Gravitas

I said, “I’m nearly seventy” realizing 

I was practicing for that day to say,

“I am seventy” without stumbling over

the language, the implications of time

and eternity, the certainty of apocalypse

after that last breath that exchanges now 

for what’s next.  It’s a number of gravitas,

of something more where less is promised

and the evaluation of what to do, to say,

to feel, to think makes the phrase “less 

is more” a prophecy to be fulfilled.

Heartbeat and breath, sight and sound,

the richness of taste and touch, the scent 

of that divine presence of someone fully

next to me are treasures enough to receive

and give away.    “I’m nearly seventy,” I

say to myself; I think that sounds okay.

-Byron Hoot

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