You Want To Grow Old Like The Carters Poem by Alice Walker

You Want To Grow Old Like The Carters

Rating: 4.3


Let other leaders
Retire
To play golf
& write
Memoirs
About bombing
Villages
They've never seen.

Growing old
Presents a peril
They may not
Expect.

It is to lose
One's soul
In trivia
& irrelevance
The nerve
Endings
Blunted
By the constant
Pressure
Of moral
Indifference.

Growing old
A curse:
Not even
Generally speaking
Able
To relate
To whoever
Shares

Your house. Not the mansion
You inhabit
On the
Lovely stolen hill
Above the sea
Or the interior one:
The darkened
Desolate
Shack.

You want to grow old
Like
The Carters;
Curing blindness
&
Building houses
For
The Poor;

Making friends of those
Who believe
They must fight.

You want to grow old
Like
The Carters
Holding hands
With someone
You love
&
Riding bicycles
Leisurely
Where the ground
Is well known
& perfectly
Flat.

You want to find
And keep to the path
Laid down
Inside you
Such a long time
Ago.

You want to grow old
Like
The Carters:
Serene. Eyes
Twinkling
To be accused
Of
Not getting
It right.

Upfront, upright.
Speaking what to you is true.

A person rich in Mothers.
Beloved.

And:
Honoring what is black
In you.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Manonton Dalan 25 January 2016

getting old scares me they might soon kick me to the curb....

0 1 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 17 November 2018

Growing old! ! With the muse of life. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

1 0 Reply
Bob Ross 04 December 2018

This poem made me think of happy little trees

1 0 Reply
Aniruddha Pathak 18 January 2020

You Want To Grow Old... You want to find And keep to the path Laid down Inside you Such a long time Ago. One of the few Modern Poems I liked.

1 0 Reply
Morgan Dude 18 January 2020

nice, very deep. i want to grow old with the one i love.

1 0 Reply
Kingsley Egbukole 19 January 2020

Very deep and conscience pricking.

0 0 Reply
Mahtab Bangalee 18 January 2020

Growing old A curse: Not even Generally speaking Able To relate To whoever Shares............/// penned wonderfully; grow old curse! ! !

0 0 Reply
Me Poet Yeps Poet 18 January 2020

Let other leaders Retire To play golf & write Memoirs About bombing Villages They've never seen.....NICE VERSE PLEASE ACROSS MY PAGE TRAVERSE DO READ MOMS SMILES FIRST

0 0 Reply
Gloria Ilupeju 18 January 2020

Growing old A curse: Not even Generally speaking Able To relate To whoever Shares Your house... Not the mansion you inhabit Thats a deep stanza right there! Great poem

0 0 Reply
Chima Ononogbu 18 January 2020

Thought provoking piece. It dives deep into life. Thanks.

1 0 Reply
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Alice Walker

Alice Walker

Eatonton Georgia
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