On the Way to the Ballet - Nolo Segundo

The old ladies march

Onto the elevator, 

Steadied by their canes,

Each a shrunken frailty

Wrapping an unending

Soul—they are going 

To watch young people 

Dance dances of grace

And beauty, while re-

Calling their own beauty

Long dissolved in the 

Acid of time. Yet, they

Are happy—I even joke

With them as I lean on

My own cane: “Come

Ladies! Let’s have a 

Foot race!”  They all

Laugh, as the young

Girls within their

Tattered frames 

Flirt with the potent

Young man hiding 

Behind my time-

Marked mask.

For a moment

We all feel a jolt

Of that spark 

We call life. 

Originally published by The Freeman Magazine, circa 2020

Nolo Segundo, pen name of retired teacher [America, Japan, Taiwan, the war zone of Cambodia, 1973-74] L.j.Carber, 78, became a published poet and essayist in his 8th decade in over 240 literary journals in 21 countries and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, thrice for Best of the Net. Cyberwit.net has published 3 poetry collections in softcover: THE ENORMITY OF EXISTENCE; OF ETHER AND EARTH; and SOUL SONGS. The titles reflect an awareness gained in 1971 when he had an NDE whilst nearly drowning in a Vermont river: that he has--is--a consciousness predating birth and surviving death, what poets since Plato have called the soul.