Woman Reflected

by LJ Hughes


I see you looking at me,
that twinge of pity in your eyes.
You see my hair thin and white,
hear my creaking joints
and watch me shuffling along.
And you think I’m just another old one
who won’t be around for long.
Your hair in dark and shining glory
was mine half a life ago,
Skin soft as yours
once held in my lover’s touch.
My voice sang alto in the opera,
my legs danced half the night away...
I laughed and loved,
rocked my babies in my arms...
and now it’s all gone.
Strange how the years go by,
I look in the mirror and in my eyes
see that who I am now is who I was then.
You see me looking off somewhere
and think my mind is gone.
It’s gone to 40 years ago,
to the man who loved me once,
who went off to war and never returned.
It’s gone to crossing the ocean 
alone with our child,
to a new world and a new way of life
and my dreams left behind.
When they lay me down,
don’t look at this old body.
But see me dancing freely in the sun,
off to be with my love again
in that place we all will go.
And when you pray for my soul,
remember this,
that I am now, who you will be
half a life from now.


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LJ Hughes is a former Nurse Practitioner living in coastal Oregon where she writes poetry and is a member of her local Florence Poetry Society. LJ has been interviewed by radio station KXCR where she read several of her poems on air. In the fall 2021 Oregon Poetry Association contest she won 1st Honorable Mention in the Members Only category with her poem “Perspectives”. She is known for her love of the outdoors and involvement in social justice issues—both of which are often reflected in her poetry.