'Why do you <br />have stripes <br />in your forehead, <br />Mama? <br />Are you <br />old?' <br /> <br />Not old. <br />But not so <br />young <br />that I cannot <br />see <br />the world contracting <br />upon itself <br />& the circle <br />closing <br />at the end. <br /> <br />As the furrows <br />in my brow <br />deepen, <br />I can see <br />myself <br />sinking back <br />into that childhood <br />street <br />I walked along <br />with my grandfather, <br />thinking he was old <br />at sixty-three <br />since I was four, <br />as you are four <br />to my forty. <br /> <br />Forty years <br />to take <br />the road out . . . <br />Will another forty <br />take me <br />back? <br /> <br />Back to the street <br />I grew up on, <br />back to <br />my mother's breast. <br />back to the second <br />world war <br />of a second <br />child, <br />back <br />to the cradle <br />endlessly <br />rocking? <br /> <br />I am young <br />as you are <br />Molly- <br />yet with stripes <br />in my brow; <br />I earn my youth <br />as you must earn <br />your age. <br /> <br />These stripes <br />are decorations <br />for my valor- <br />forty years <br />of marching <br />to a war <br />I could not declare, <br />nor locate, <br />yet have somehow <br />won. <br /> <br />Now, <br />I begin <br />to unwin, <br />unravelling <br />the sleeves <br />of care <br />that have <br />stitched up <br />this brow, <br />unravelling <br />the threads <br />that have kept <br />me scared, <br />as I pranced <br />over the world, <br />seemingly fearless, <br />working <br />without a net, <br />knowing <br />if I fell <br />it would <br />only be <br />into that same <br />childhood street, <br />where I dreaded <br />to tread <br />on the lines- <br />not knowing <br />the lines <br />would someday <br />tread <br />on me. <br /> <br />Molly, <br />when you are forty, <br />read this poem <br />& tell me: <br />have we won <br />or lost <br />the war?<br /><br />Erica Jong<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poem-for-molly-s-fortieth-birthday/
