Are you like me – in your fifties – neither young or old? Well poet Barbara Bialick explains it all to you in this week’s LYRICAL.

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Being Bicyclable

People my age are often bicyclable.
We fit into both ends of the life cycle.
We can still claim to be young—
in our fifties or so—or old,
in our fifties or so…
Part of this confusion comes from people
who have really old parents, say in their 90s,
who may actually claim they are young, too!
Once such parents get sick, then fade into history,
their offspring may discover that people
whose parents died years ago don’t really
offer condolences except “they lived a long time.”
Their more philosophical question might be:
Are the bicyclable recyclable?
Can they be used all over again?
Yes! One can be used and re-used by others.
But the idea of being in two parts of the life cycle
can be ascertained by looking at the age of our friends.
We have our younger friends who may forget we’re older
and our older friends, who never forget that we’re younger.
To children and grandchildren, however, we will
always be “old.” They are the ones the life cycle is about,
no matter what fountain of youth we can buy…
or who gives us a “ticket to ride.”

-Barbara Bialick

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Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143.
dougholder@post.harvard.edu