AGING

By Bridget Harper

Don’t tell me how I should or shouldn’t age

Don’t you dare

Aging means I’ve earned the right to be

Graceful and disgraceful

Silent and loud

Considered and opinionated

Sexy and sexless

Girlish, Boyish, Manish, Impish, Childish should I choose

Because I choose

I will dance when I want, sing when I want, speak when I have something to say

I will eat when I want, sleep when I want and if I want, play with my rabbit all day

I’ve spent a lifetime playing small to fit your expectations of my womanhood

The only expectation, condemnation, praise or criticism I hear now are my own

I am a woman

And my womanhood is what I choose it to be.