Getting Old Is Strange

Having turned 70, what I find most interesting about aging is that only my body is getting old-- 'inside' I'm in my 20's, and when I recall events of 40, 50, 60 years ago, they seem not 'distant'.

It happens when you aren't looking,
like water wearing down a rock, so
too time cuts your once fine lines,
leaving little lumps and bumps here,
a hedgerow of creases there...
you know you move slower, but
you think it's temporary-- soon
someday I'll race my own shadow,
maybe even fly off to the moon.

Instead your legs feel like logs,
your heart warns loudly, Slow!
Slower! as your old fears fade
but new ones have come, like
falling-- not in love as when
your beautiful form sought
another more beautiful form
and you sweated loss before
there was any chance of gain.
No, now you fear real loss:
the body failing, the mind
entering a strange new land,
a terrible world where self
itself goes up in cold smoke.

And all your victories, all your
triumphs are nought but old
memories, little teases of the
youth you once breathed in
and out, with all its grace,
its insouciance now gone.
You know in your soul that
you are approaching God,
or His absence which you fear
even more-- still, the going and
the taking are His to make...
you learned THAT the hard way,
the hellish way when you were
young and seemed so invincible.

So now those you love become
more gilded day by day, and you
know as your time shortens they
will live on and you are glad and
only hope they may recall you,
here or there, once in a while.

And if the Lord of all the Worlds
is kind, you may be allowed to
keep track, to follow from afar
and near the lives you love....

Reviews

[Fran Marie]

This is written with wisdom..we just have to accept the fact that each day we live we die a little bit more..the clock of life ever ticking away ..getting old is strange indeed..but consider the alternative ..so many people die young and never have the chance to age...nice work here.

[Chris Shaw]

With age comes wisdom. We may lose our looks, we may have problems with how our body performs, but I am a firm believer that some things do improve with age. We can be like wine, better as it matures. I think we see things in perspective, value relationships better and generally make the most of what we have. I wouldn't want to be in my mid twenties again, when I was at my unhappiest and working my hardest. I am happy to be where I am at the moment, with the love of family and friends around me. Conscious of the passing years, but that's why I make the most of each day. No time for silly squabbles, life is too short. Thought provoking poem. I am enjoying your poetry very much. Welcome to writerscafe.

Chris

[Nolo Segundo]

Thank you Chris, for your most thoughtful review. If I could design things --being a bit greedy-- I would have the body I had in my 20's, my mind at 50 (as Aristotle said, the age of mental maturity) and the soul I feel at 70. But then we would never overcome our innate human hubris, which may be why God invented old age: to teach us humility.