Poem

My Life is Like a Slab of Chocolate

By Rodney Mazinter

55 years together filled with love, admiration and laughter.

I wonder at the artistry and love that have blessed me.

I counted a life happily spent filled with memories.

I have counted my years

And realised that I have

Less time to live by,

Than I have lived so far.

I feel like the child who won a slab of chocolate: at first he ate it with pleasure,

But when he realised that there was little left, he began to taste each bite carefully,

More measured; more intense.

It is Mavis who has delighted my soul.

Not only me but thousands of others who have thrilled to the same artistry that affected me,

That captured their souls as well.

But what is artistry without love?

Its allure cannot survive.

Here we are at three-score years and twenty

Still firmly tethered.

Mavis, our time is short:

I want the essence,

Our spirit is in a hurry.

I do not have much chocolate

In the slab anymore.

You have taught me what it is to live next to humans,

Very realistic people who know

How to laugh at their mistakes,

Who are not inflated by their own triumphs

And who take responsibility for their actions.

In this way, you have taught, human dignity is defended

And we live in truth and honesty.

I find sublime comfort in your company.

I want to surround myself with your foibles

Knowing that you tolerate with love my own.

You know how to touch my heart and mind

And have learned to comfort, with sweet touches of the soul.

Yes, I'm in a hurry.

I'm in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.

Where is my chocolate?

I do not intend to waste any of the remaining slab..

I am sure it will be exquisite,

much more than that eaten so far.

My goal is to reach the end satisfied

and at peace with my loved one.

We have two lives

And the second begins when you realise you have only one.