Mary Avakian Freericks: Golden Years

Age is not
the time of the turtle
withdrawing into self,
but an awakening
of the heart and mind.

Age is the autumn leaf
as it lights the sky
in a burst of color,
growing till time calls,
free to master eternity.

This poem has previously appeared in Garig Basmajian's Armenian-American poets: a bilingual anthology, published by AGBU in 1976.