Image and Voice

Youthfulness has left me behind ~ 

In body

see the wrinkles on my skin

gathered over years of sweat, strain, laughter and tears.

See my posture

once straight and sure

now the straightness must be reminded

when I step from my bed.

See the veins on my hands

once hidden in youth, revealing themselves

carrying good red blood coursing life through my body

Youthfulness has left me behind ~ 

In mind

Dwindling some call it

A gap, a black hole - once familiar words no longer exist

taken flight into nether regions of my mind, 

Hear my thoughts

that come out garbled at unexpected moments

in unfortunate ways, eliciting laugher or derision ~

like the youthfulness of a toddler learning the new world

or of a senior unlearning a world that has become old.

Hear my voice

croaking each morning, once clear and strong

sounding weak and uncertain in the early morn ~

yet hear my youthful laughter 

sounding joy over things that, once filled with gravity,

today are lighter than the air that we breathe

Youthfulness has left me behind ~ 

In heart

My heart, still worn on my sleeve, is

shadowed deeply by the layers of the years

softened in places and grown a thick skin in others

allowing me to survive all the arrows from within and without

and still discover love, laughter and life within my world.

Youthfulness has left me behind ~ except ~

My soul 

Never wavering 

rejoices in all that life has given me.

There have been times I have shied away

afraid yet wanting to move forward but once rested and confident

again have returned to more fully accept the gift of family.

My soul, always the rudder, 

has steered my sometimes unsteady ship 

into quieter water and then into the current of life

beside and with the rest of the of the world.

“Growing old is humbling and it takes effort 

to accomplish this stage of life with dignity.”

 ~ Kilroy J. Oldster,  Dead Toad Scrolls