did this hill
become a mountain?
and the hurdles
ascend higher than
the empire state building?

When
did laugh lines
turn into wrinkles?
this smile
flip upside down?
this skin hung
as a wet diaper?
and in all this grey
not a strand of brown?

When
did the years
pass as a blurry scene
out of the windows
of a high-speed train?
and all it ever did
was rain?

When
did friends
become commodities?
the government
changed its policies?
and we should go back
to the days of Socrates?