You Can't Ask a Lady

You can’t ask a lady
to reveal her age
Without risk,
Without offense,
Without being rude.
But the question isn’t crude.
It’s real and easily understood.
Why then do women think
That if they reveal their age
Something about them
Will sink and they will be
Less than,
Unworthy,
Undesirable,
And should be ignored.
It is a cruel rule,
A horrible yoke
Upon their shoulders.
No one has the authority
To issue the rule:
“Hide your age.”
Does the Crone
Have no value
In a Man’s world?
Who says
An older woman
Does not excite
Does not titillate
Does not arouse
The sexual hormones
In a man?
Why do women acquiesce?
And pretend
They are not the wise crone,
The experienced elder,
The women of knowledge,
And power?
When they were six
They were proud
They could read
And run faster than the boys.
They showed their license with pride
When they reached 21 years of age.
Men don’t conceal how old they are
When they are 30 or 40 of 50.
They are always
Desirable at any age.
At least to their way of thinking.
People tell me
I can’t ask a lady,
“How old are you?”
She will be offended.
Why?
Because she bought the line
Hook and sinker
That once she is past
Twenty-one
She is of no value.
That is ridiculous,
Obnoxious,
Sexist thinking.
When we devalue
Any aspect of who we are
We cheat ourselves
Of the cooperation,
The power
And the wisdom
Of half the human population.
We rob ourselves
Of the wisdom of the Crone..