Too Busy Growing Up*

By Sue C. Boynton

This business of growing old
        bothered me once
            when I was fifty-five.

But now at threescore years and ten
        (plus five)
            all fears concerning age are gone
                and I’m just glad to be alive.

To be alive!
        To find upon the table of each day
            a brimming cup of challenge
                to go on.

So…I’ve stopped growing old—
        Too busy
            growing up!

*This poem is included in the volume Heart on My Sleeve by Sue C. Boynton, Hope B. Friedmann, ed., copyright 1976 and 1980.