With Age Comes Wisdom

This is what you must never forget, not
When you sit in sun, pretending to be
Safe and at leisure, reading magazines

While the hummingbirds fight for the feeder
You have generously provided them,
So close to where you sit you could grab them

Like quick fistfuls of fluff if you were just
Quick enough, fulfilling the sweetest dream
Of your well-fed and mostly placid cat,

Not when you have already forgotten
How this long, overwrought sentence began—
It’s good to forget, except when it’s not,

And it’s useful to remember, except
When it’s a monster that won’t let you go.
How could you possibly know this? You know.