I Want To Age Like Sea Glass: Poem

I want to age like seaglass,

By Bernadette Ngo.

I want to age like seaglass,

Smoothed by tides,

Not broken.

I want the currents of life to toss me around and shake me up and leave me feeling washed clean.

I want my hard edges to soften as the years pass,

Not made weak but simple.

I want to ride the waves and go with the flow and feel the impact of the surging tides moving in and out.

When I'm thrown against the shore and caught between the rocks and a hard place,

I want to rest there until I can find the strength to do what is next.

Not stuck,

Just waiting,

Pondering,

Feeling what it's like to pause.

And when I am ready,

I will catch a wave and let it carry me along to the next place that I'm supposed to be.

I want to be picked up on occasion by an unsuspected soul and carried along,

Just for the connection,

Just for the sake of appreciation and wonder.

And with each encounter,

New possibilities of collaboration are presented and new ideas are born.

I want to age like seaglass,

So that when people see the old woman I'll become,

They'll embrace all that I am.

They'll marvel at my exquisite nature and hold me gently in their hands and be awed by my well-earned patina.

Neither flashy nor dull,

Just the right luster.

And they'll wonder if just for a second what it is exactly I'm made of and how I got to be in this very here and now.

And we'll both feel lucky to be in that perfectly right place at that profoundly right time.

I want to age like seaglass.

I want to enjoy the journey and let my preciousness be,

Not in spite of the impacts of life,

But because of them.

I want to age like seaglass.