Old age,
I learned to be wise,
To be patient,
To know the reality of life,
Gathered knowledge,
All for nothing ,
Cause I am beginning to forget even the basic things.
29/10/2022

My life, she said, is so akin
To a twisted, knotted piece of yarn
Tied around an unknown object
Hanging from a broken limb
Blown by whirling, dusty wind
That never ever makes a sound.
                           ljm

I lose
Bits and pieces
Of myself
Every night.

I only realize
Now-
When so much
Is already gone.

She stands before the bathroom mirror
Creating several different faces
Tryng to find the one that doesn’t
Make her look so tired and old.

Some of them make her look ill
A couple more look silly.
The one she finally settles on:
A wan and disappointed smile -

Accepted as least ugly of the bunch
It’s not the face she’d hoped to wear
In this the Autumn of her life.
She expected some small trace
Of former beauty to remain.

She tried to make a little sparkle
To liven up her somber eyes
And find the muscle in her cheek
That lifts her lips into a grin.

A sorry rictus of despair
Was all that effort brought her
So she gave up and threw the switch
And slipped away in darkness
ljm

I stare into the heavens
The vast expanse
Has already past
I wonder
Who looks back
Sees me
As I was
Are we ever as we are
Are we ever
We are barely here
Hardly human