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The year I turned 40, I understood-
No love is greater than the love of God and your parents.

The year I turned 40, I learned-
A friendship of 20 years can vanish in a moment.

The year I turned 40, I realized-
A career isn't everything; it can be lost in the blink of an eye.

The year I turned 40, I saw-
The ones you trust most can be the ones who break your heart.

The year I turned 40, I knew-
Family is life's truest anchor, the only constant in a changing world.

The year I turned 40, I reflected-
On the time and money wasted on people who were never meant to stay.

The year I turned 40, I embraced-
The comfort is pajamas over the illusion of a party dress.

Yet in that year, I also discovered-
That some people remain, no matter where life takes you.
They do not care for status, wealth or circumstance-
They care for YOU, and they are the ones to treasure.

The year I turned 40...
Turning 40 wasn't just about reaching a milestone - it was reckoning. The lessons came fast and sharp: friendships aren't always forever, careers can vanish, and trust is fragile. But amid the heartbreak and realizations, I found clarity - family is everything, true friendships withstand time, and life is best lived in comfort. The poem is a reflection on love, loss, and the quiet beauty of understanding who truly matters.
Leanne Jan 23
What do you see when you look my way?
Do you see me, or do you see something else?
Do you see all the imperfections I possess?
These imperfections make me feel less.
Like the shell of a girl in a picture frame.
Do you see what I see in the mirror looking back at me?
A body, all deformed but shapely; this body has had two beautiful babies.
What do you see when you look at my face?
Do you see the unevenness of my eyebrows and the squint in my left eye?
Maybe there are enough glasses for it to hide behind.
Do you see the freckles splattered on my face?
The sun hasn't been gentle on this aging face.
What do you see when you look at me?
Do you see my darkened eyes, so deep and dark that the colors almost don't shine?
Do you see this hair? It's starting to thin with little strands of gray.
What do you see when you look at this aging woman who is almost forty years old?
Maybe…me?
Nat Lipstadt Aug 2024
40
,000 drafts of poems proposed,
some but a bit, a title, a bob,
some wondering why are they kept
in suspended animation, the fire of exiting
from placenta to screaming baby, most,
patient waiting, over the undivided divide,
the Cumbersome Attention Gap to cross,
to the state of hallelujah completion

this race should be an Olympic one,
it is unwinnable, but only open to poets
who willing to go the unlimited distance,
every finished oeuvre, spawns bornes two
more, so you, fool, even a fifth grader,
intuits the higher math of you’ll never
catchup, but rise invigorated to meet,
greet the wonderous sunrise challenge…

and the promised ones, “next one for you,”
the unconditional incompleyedy poems
so overdue, the muses send an armored truck
to collect just the largesse of fine fines…
as my old West Village friend sang, you poet,
“might as well try and catch the wind”

this leads me to observe a new day’s first
birthday, even as Leonard sings Yom Kippur
hymns of mortality, and all the ways humans
can pass thru the gap in the morn clouds that
is the passageway to the Higher North…

you see, this is this poems day of naissance,
one day, one candle, now extant, but sooner
to be a not, one more poem sent heavenward
after a  brilliant brief coexistence with the
innards of my mind…
Jeremy Betts Aug 2024
Deathly allergic to life itself oddly
Takes roughly 90 years to die from it if you're lucky
But you see, luck doesn't know me
So we'll see how far I get past 40

©2024
Jeremy Betts Jun 2024
My past haunts tirelessly
There's a lot of it at 40
Also less time for recovery
I wish it was "get some therapy"
Type of easy
I wish they'd stop blaming me

©2024
letters to basil Jun 2021
XL
dear basil,

please start drawing again
singing again
please start loving again
and living again

please start writing again

<3,
basil
drink ur love life juice :))

19.06.2021
Poetic T Feb 2020
Worst hangover ever
    I only drank water

      40%
Vic Apr 2019
That's the good thing.
A poem every day.
Haylin Nov 2018
Every 40 seconds
someone in the world dies of suicide

Every 41 seconds
someone is left to make sense of it
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