Heart and Other Throbs, Reflections on Being ‘Over Seventy’

Professor Joe Goldblatt

The renowned science communicator Carl Sagan and his wife, the producer and writer of his television series “Cosmos” Ann Druyan once described our relationship with the universe as

“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.“

As I experience the aches and pains of ageing, I too am discovering the importance of love as my sacred carriage into the world of the unknown.

Author’s note: The term “greeting” is the Old Scots language word for crying.

Heart and Other Throbs

Shoulder throbs

Sharp pain

Laments and sobs

Cursing again.

New sensations in old bones

Reminders of feeling

I am not alone

Nor free from daily greeting.

Crying in deep sorrow

Seeing a painting, a tree, a flower

My cheeks sow

Tears and emotions in bowers.

New sensations

Reveal a spiritual self

The physical protestations

Of this wee elf.

Up from my kingdom

The wider universe

Rises and sounds the drum

Commanding all that must be done.

Appreciating pain and sorrow

Celebrating tragedy and joy

Cherishing every morrow

Each moment a secret ploy.

Secrets of living

Looking beyond the pain

Gifts have been given

Again and again.

Appreciating throbs great and small

From my heart and now all.