I sank like a stone
into the still, deep waters of late middle age,
aching from head to foot
I took up food
and gave up exercise.
It did me good.
And while he slept
I found some hobbies for myself.
Painting. Seeing the sights I'd always dreamed about:
The Leaning Tower.
The Pyramids. The Taj Mahal.
I made a little watercolour of them all.
But what was best,
what hands-down beat the rest,
was saying a none-too-fond farewell to sex.
Mrs Van Winkle doesn’t claim to do or achieve anything great. Her aim ‘to make a little watercolour’ is modest, and yet her small accomplishment seems to satisfy her.  So, instead of ‘still, deep waters’, her life, symbolised by water, is now colourful.
Mrs Rip Van Winkle