Truth be told I’ve been gray

For many years

So saying ‘I’m going gray’

is a euphemism

A phone call to the girls

Gave me the confidence

Husband less enthusiastic

Wait a little longer.

The decision, a private one

The journey, not so much

Vulnerability leads to growth

A long year of vulnerability

Free from the 4-week ritual

No more magic potion.

I would need to find

a new alchemic strategy

It takes confidence

The ego side steps

Youth would be drawn from an attitude

from strength, from capabilities

A part of a club

A not-so-secret society

Upturned lips

from the other members

Observing the holdouts

with salt and pepper men

Double standards

but we are used to this

I wish I knew then

what I know 25 years later

When I bought my first bottle

of medium brown

Advice to the hesitant and

To the youngsters who might

Own your beauty

Youth comes from within.

Not from the not-so-magic potion