Growing Old

As we grow older things start to change
some are obvious to one and all
hair that was so thick and long
has fallen out as time moves on
leaving a head so shiny and bald
or just with hair around the ears
that we so carefully comb
and do our best to make us feel
our shiny head is hair so real.

Hair is not the only thing
that we have lost along the way
where muscles once were fit and tight
are now just loose folds of skin
in our mind we still are strong
but when it comes time prove us wrong
no strength have we to do the task
that in our mind the question asks.

When we were young we ran and jumped
and played as hard as we thought we could
Knocks and bruises were part of the game
and we always lived, always the same
pushing our bodies as hard as we could
in the hope of being good
at whatever we were doing that day
all a part of how we played.

As we grow old that same body now
creaks and groans with every move
has aches and pains in places where
we never knew we had muscles there
and screams and cries each step we take
if we push ourselves too hard
with feet that hardly clear the ground
and trips and falls are all around
and landing can make a painful sound.

In our own way we compensate
and no chances do we take
and then the mind starts to play tricks
and says, you can do it you just got to try
when you were younger you never thought why
you just went out and played your part
I’ll bet if you think very hard
you can still do the things just like before.

What I have not mentioned here
is how my mind that once so clear
remembering things from the past
and people’s names both first and last
is now a shadow of how it used to be
and try as I might remember them
all of those people close to me
but I can remember my childhood friends
and even name them one by one
and yet I cannot recall
the breakfast I ate an hour ago.

Who am I trying to kid
that even though my mind still works
my body is starting to let me down
and I am not who I used to be
this is a different me inside
and there is no way to hide
the fact that we all grow old
and even though we struggle so
we cannot change the march of time.