Not
only
sometimes,
but all the time
I wish like a child
that I were young again:
So that I could heal fast,
chase trails, be explained
away as a youthful folly
(instead of the id-bulge
I always was). But some
days, tired, I'd rather just
go to bed than stay up
all night: We don't earn
reason and temperance
as we grow older,
we have reason
and temperance
foisted
upon
us
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ReplyDeleteEven though telomeres are supposed to gradually shorten as you age, the title of the poem conveys the idea that becoming old isn’t progressive or eventual, but sudden and without warning. The suddenness of the speaker’s aging is unwanted in his announcement that, “Not/only/sometimes,/but all the time/I wish like a child/that I were young again” (1-6). Despite his wishes to again be young, the speaker admits that, “some/days, tired, I'd rather just/go to bed than stay up/all night” (11-14). The speaker’s telomeres are worn thin by his contradicting wishes to become young again or to remain old. The conflicting wishes cause so much stress and tension on his telomeres that they suddenly snap.
ReplyDeleteThe title of this poem deepens the message that this speaker is faced with the reality of aging. Telomeres are on the end of a chromosome to protect the chromosome from deterioration, yet the title contradicts their purpose to show that they are breaking as the speaker is getting older. In the fourth line of the poem, the speaker stresses “all” in his phrase “all the time/ I wish like a child.” The speaker is dwelling on his childhood and wishes he could revert back to his younger years. He misses the benefits of his younger age like “heal[ing] fast, and climb[ing] trails.” The speaker admits that he does wish he could turn in and not face the world around him. Lastly, the speaker explains that as people age, they are accompanied by “reason and temperance.” The speaker challenges the idea of aging, but ultimately realizes that it is the cycle of life and there are benefits of being old as well as being young.
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