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.