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.
Copyright © David Irby | Year Posted 2015
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