Sonnet for My First Gray Hair
Contest Winner
My hair comes in silver. I can’t decide
if this is an ending or an unveiling. Surely I’ve lived
a third or more of my life. (A third is generous.)
Losses accumulate; barnacles crust my feet.
Someday, I’ll love more of the dead than the living.
My progeny will wonder what to do with me
as I tell meandering stories from my armchair,
ears closed with age, hands spotted and trembling.
Not yet. Today, it’s just the gray at my temples
and my creased forehead, marked by worry
my younger self couldn’t fathom. I love her better
now, though she was profligate with her allotted hours,
her small cares. Would it comfort her to know
one day she’d drop them like feathers?
Lorren Lemmons (she/her) is a writer living in Idaho with her husband, three children, and Australian labradoodle (@lorrenlemmons). Book Rec: Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón
Photo by May Gauthier on Unsplash
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