It’s not too late for you, though the years have stretched on
And you have watched with grim resignation while others
Got what you wanted and you felt you never would.

It’s not too late though your body has changed, some parts
Lengthening, others widening, and you are not now as you once were.

It’s not too late though you dream of missed chances,
the opportunities you never took – to lean forward and courageously kiss
that other person, take him as your lover, or look her
straight in the eye and for once
say what was in your heart
without restraint or reservation.

It’s not too late because life still moves through your body
and in the morning you wake to a day that’s new and shining.

It’s not too late because the animal pulse of your body still yearns
to be celebrated for its sinuous grace, its glorious aliveness,
and when touched it can still shiver and quake and relax.

It’s not too late because your heart still tries
to embrace the world in all its beauty and awfulness,
because something inside you wants
to be free, a remnant of stardust and light from the cosmos
that danced in the dark of your mother’s womb.

You have been readying yourself for this time. Now,
put down the burden of the unspoken
and give your heart space to take chances again, for
it is not too late. Your body yearns to be befriended.
Gates of pleasure beckon, begging you to enter,
and someone out there is dreaming of you
as a lover. And who are you to deny the world your
most shining, brilliant, erotic self?

It’s not too late to find the parts of yourself
that were never allowed to exist until now.
The years of waiting can be forgiven:
the sea churns with orgasmic potential.
Spring bursts into bloom, each tender bud craving
the wind’s caress to entice it further. Something
inside you yearns to be free; believe in yourself.
You must change your life.

~ Poem by Leonore Tjia