This is a land with new rules:
Do not give advice, even when asked.
Do not tell the old stories over and over.
Do not recite your ills. They are dear only to you.
Do not ask people to speak up,
for they say they are not speaking more softly than before.
And do not ask them to repeat.
(Not all they say is worth repeating.)
Be cheerful. Smile when they say you are exceptional.
Take the arm that is offered, the best seat that is given you,
the doors that are held open for you.
Remember you are a pioneer with a frontier to be crossed.
You are traveling with the young and those who would be young,
who do not know that they will get old.
When you are alone you may talk to yourself,
sing a few bars of "Aida,"
twirl a few dance steps while the tea water boils
(but only if you are alone).
Pray for Grace!

—Helen Wade Alderfer, Goshen, Indiana, taught school for 11 years and edited at the Mennonite Publishing House for 25 years. She reviewed books for 50 years and wrote poetry all her life, having had her first poem published when she was eight.