When I was a child
I knew what was expected of me
I didn’t always do it
But I knew it
The time to get up
Put on my school uniform
Eat breakfast
Go to school
Be reverent and quiet in church
Listen and learn in the classroom
Obey my parents
Do my homework
Brush my teeth
Avoid, always and everywhere,
The near occasion of sin

My college years
Started with the same expectations
But then I, like so many,
Tuned in, turned on, dropped out
Still I knew what was expected:
Protest, get arrested, resist, enjoy
Sex, drugs and rock and roll

Then I got pregnant
Got married
Got some more pregnant
And there I was
Before I knew it
At the other end of childhood
Teaching my children
What was expected of them
Making their world predictable

Now I am 75
And nothing much is expected of me anymore
And I don’t know what to expect
What I should feel like
Are all these aches and pains normal
Is all this introspection normal

I think perhaps
What this time is about
From now until when
Is simply to become comfortable
With the unknowable