Why Do You Look So Old

Why do you look so old? The child asks me.
Not my favorite child, and he is losing ground rapidly.
Why do you think? I reply. “I am old.”
How old are you?
I am a hundred and twelve.
That quiets the whippersnapper for a few seconds.
He is whining now, disbelieving me, calling me names.

The youth of today are not like us.
I want to scream “I am twelve inside, no older than nine some days.”
But my polka dotted hands and my wrinkling bulldog neck says more.
Not to mention the arthritis in both ankles which slow me down.
“Why are you so impertinent and fresh?” I want to say to the child.
But these words are well beyond his scope.
We have dumbed down society until I do not think
We can dumb it down any more,
So I hobble away, cherishing my superiority.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2021

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Hankins Avatar
May 24, 2021 at 2:02 PM
And folks wonder why teachers go prematurely gray!
Krutsinger Avatar
May 25, 2021 at 6:40 AM
They sure do!
Bauer Avatar
May 24, 2021 at 11:49 AM
the first two lines are pure gold, caren! the rest of the poem is great, too, of course...
Krutsinger Avatar
May 25, 2021 at 6:40 AM
Thank you Ilene. A true story; he is eight.
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