Barbara J. Hamby

Ought Four

Four years into this decade, I still hesitate to write ‘04 or 2004 on my checks. When the date appears on my computer, it usually pops up automatically when I type the first few letters of the month. For most of my life, dates that included such low numbers were not part of my history, but suggested ancient times when some of my ancestors, including my parents, were born.

It is mind-boggling that I am here in the 21st Century. No certainty of living that long existed for me as a child. I remember when, as a teenager, I read the book 1984 and wondered what my life would be like in that year. I didn’t dare to reflect on what the year 2000, or any years past it, might bring.

But here I am, and glad to be here, with the prospect of living well beyond the “ought” years. When we get to 2010, I guess I’ll evaluate again.

What follows is a verse I wrote in 1998. Similar verses are contained in my poetry books, as shown on my web page.

  Child of Wonder

Child of the thirties,
  nose always in a book,
          full of questions,
  full of wonder,
          can’t imagine
        how I’ll look
      in twenty, forty,
      sixty years.
  Will I know
  the love
  of children?

Can time
erase
my fears?

Wars, volcanoes,
floods and fires
loom ahead.

Will I survive?
       
In the nineties,
here’s an answer. 
I am happily
alive.  Children grown,
still no grandchildren.
Some questions await entry
into another century.