Don't take things personally.
Keep moving forward.
Be vulnerable but cautious.
Remain simple despite societal complications.
Think before you speak 
but write like crazy,

Look both ways before crossing the country.
Always have an escape route,
even if it's just inside your head.
Love unconditionally, even if they have conditions,
You'll feel better at age 99, 100, 101, 
Then you won't remember anymore…

Forget about who left whom,
or how many times it happened,
the lonely hours you spent early on,
the so-distant now superwoman, 
super mom years,
agreeable years to just get along,
those rebellious times you forgot the leash,
Remember
then forget
then create 
In the end
you imagined most of it anyway.
                        

I will soon have bifocals.
Doctor says there's a difference 
in my reading vision, and the way
I view the rest of the world.

He asked if I spent much time reading,
"Yes, Doctor, a disproportional amount".
"And close work like writing", he inquired,
"Yes, enough to bias my vision"

I offered that I frequently squint
to bring those things from far away, much nearer,
and my surprise when things up close
are not what I thought they were from a distance.

Bifocals will help you focus, he said.
Integrate your vision so there's less dissonance.
Your clarity will change when you look
at a page to read or to write.

It always has, I mused to myself.
Then, choosing lenses rose colored on top,
and starkly clear at the bottom,
I paid my bill and went home.