The jar was full so many years ago,
But thinking it more wise to be discrete
I only flung a handful sparingly —
Upon a pair of eyes that shone with love,

A smiling mouth that curved like angel’s wings
As laughter rang like music from his throat.
When once I flung the oats too carelessly
The wind returned the grains with such a force

My eyes were blinded by the gust until
My tears exposed the folly of my deed.
Then wisely did I watch the coursing winds
Before I sowed my wild misguided seeds.

The jar now had so little left to hoard
I thought it best to close the battered lid,
But when I thought Why harbor such a few?
I turned and threw the last into the wind.

With some regret but knowing that at last
I’d freed myself from love’s uncertainty,
I cleansed my mind of all entanglements
And chose to walk the path of chastity.

Then suddenly those seedlings I had scorned
And tossed away with grim decisiveness
Returned with such a force my body reeled,
For love appeared and filled my hollow heart.

Don’t think of love as only for the young:
It comes to anyone who has no fear
Of throwing to the wind those last few seeds
That in that jar lay dormant through the years.