A Late Bloomer

For all of the Senior Citizens, who have chosen to return to school!

A LATE BLOOMER

 

I walk across campus and I feel like everyone is staring at me.  I have lost most of my hair and the hair that I have left is white.  Some of the other students come up to me and inquire as to which class I teach; I guess, just because you are mature in years, you are supposed to know everything, too.  Their mouths drop, always, when I tell them that I am a student.

 

I awoke, one morning, and was looking out at the tree infront of my house.  Suddenly, everything became clear to me about my situation.

 

That tree had been covered with flowers, about a month ago.  When all of the flowers fell off, it looked like it had snowed.  All of the spent blooms had blown away and the tree had started to sprout berries.  But, there it was, a single late blossom.  How majestic it seemed there, by itself.  No single blossom had looked so radiant, when the tree had been covered with flowers.

 

Now, I have my reply to all of the inquiries at college, "I may be a little old, bud, but I'm a late bloomer!"

Reviews

[Elton Camp]

I enjoyed your story. Over the years I have had many older people, mainly women, in my biology classes. The oldest was a lady who was so old that she shuffled a bit when she walked, but she breezed right through the nursing program, passed state board exams, and practiced for several years as a Registered Nurse.

Elton Camp

[Charles]

A nice story and a truism. The tree analogy really works. I'm not sure whether you mean this to be prose poetry... doesn't matter much except it may have a bearing on the otherwise extraneous commas in line 4... none of the commas in the last sentence are necessary in prose. Also, check 'infront' in line 6 and the grammatically cumbersome 'like as if' in line 9 *a redundancy, for sure). Nice story. Study hard and maybe you'll get to go to the Spring formal. :-)

[Ed Hart]

let's hear if for the old(er) folks!

[deeps]

Hmm! this is interesting, enjoyed it.

[Bear]

this has put a smile upon my face... HOORAH for the late bloomers and may they continue to shine brightly with the experiences of their life journey.

Sallie Bear

[An owl on the moon]

I worked at a university for several years. Your insights on the campus experience and the metaphor found in the tree were beautifully expressed. Wonderfully lifting to us all!

[Fabian G. Franklin]

Education is wasted on the young. lol Great write.

[ettorney]

This is a wonderful beginning to a great story. I say beginning because I think you can develop it more. Let us know more about what it's like to be both a late bloomer and an older student. The analogy to the late tree blossom is quite poetic.

nice write

[Coyote Poetry]

I went to school older. World had change. A lot of us are getting more education to keep up. I like the poem. We appreciate school more then the young. The older folks know schooling is a good thing. A excellent poem.
Coyote