Just when you notice your life as it is and not how you’d wish otherwise
Rearrange all the bits like paper and string
A new pattern’s not hard to devise

You think when you’re young you can simply revise
And take what you will on the wing
Just when you notice your life as it is and not how you’d wish otherwise

At noon you’re more willing to characterize
Your life as a mad fluid thing
A new pattern’s not too hard to devise

As your children embark on their own enterprise
You’re tempted a little to cling
Just when you notice your life as it is and not what you’d wish otherwise

Old age finds you there but in a new guise
You wonder what more you can bring
A new pattern’s so hard to devise

Take heart for I’m sure you will soon realize
As evening comes in flickering
That just when you notice your life as it is and not how you’d wish otherwise
A new pattern’s ahead to devise.

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Mary McAllister is a writer and a visual artist who has won national prizes for writing both nonfiction and poetry. She has been published in Fathom magazine and Of Poets & Poetry.