(Inspired by Rilke’s Letter to a Young Poet)
You are never too old to write poems
even if you never wrote them before
within you is a lifetime of feelings
begging to be in notebooks or published
share the long journey you have made
reveal all your hidden secrets and lusts
As elder, you can get away with anything
write outrageously, courageously and often
what can they do to you at your age
if you speak truth to power in poems
or mock the sacred and silly which now
makes no sense to you or just amuses
in these years of your earned wisdom
write your learning, fantasies, hopes
recall beauty that made you gasp
or ugliness that made you groan
give yourself permission to write
imperfectly for yourself or others
please put down on paper what you can tear up
or give those who need to hear the old poets
– Ruth Harriet Jacobs
