Poem
by Stephany Spencer-LeBaron:
PONDREIN’ and WANDERIN’:
Conversation With Self

Ponderin’ ‘n Wanderin’:
A Conversation with Self

At seventy-one I’m hung
By protruding nails
On my ladder’s last rung,
Wonderin’ what else I might’ve won.
Should I try for more
Before Life’s done?

Or should I commit to recreation,
Cease ambition and aspiration;
Cease trying to make more of myself;
Simplify life, put struggle on the shelf?
Thus I wonder as I ponder ‘n wander.

But I can’t have everything,
Despite the American dream,
Where successful woman 
Gets promotion to top floor.
Yet Positivists swear 
Positive thinking opens any door!

Well let’s get real!
I could try till I die,
Think positive till I fry,
But still be only sure 
Of Taxes, “the Pill,” 
And writing my last Will
Before I say goodbye.

Yet Hope springs eternal …
She waits up ahead.
As the sun sets overhead,
I ponder ‘n wander,
Still wending my way up the hill …
When suddenly I change my stead,
Change my thoughts,
Change my mood, 
Become positive instead.

So treasuring Earth’s pleasures
Extending beyond measures 
In an amazing marvelous spread,
I recall what Woody Guthrie said:
If we’re not busy livin’
We’re busy dyin.’

Choosing not to be dead,
I get back in the saddle again
And move on ahead.
Then bury my worries
As though they were dead.

I won’t sweat the small things,
For as it’s been said,
All things are small things,
It’s all in our head …
Only fools would walk 
Where angels won’t tread.