David Irby Poet Rhyme

Suddenly Old

“How did it get so late so soon?” 
? Dr. Seuss


I look in the mirror.
Who is this I see?
Though vaguely familiar, 
it cannot be me. 

Who is this person 
so long in the tooth? 
Where is the man 
that I saw in my youth? 

This person stares back 
all the time that I'm there. 
This old man with wrinkles 
and hardly no hair. 

The mirror's defective. 
It just has to be. 
There' s just no way that 
this person is me. 

I look away and then 
down at my hands: 
Age spots and wrinkles. 
I don't understand. 

Just yesterday 
I was only a teen, 
and getting old was a 
nightmarish dream. 

But yet as I look 
in the mirror once more. 
I turn away fast 
and stare down at the floor. 

The man who was one time 
so vibrant and bold 
has wasted his youth 
and is suddenly old.

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