Thoughts of Old Age

To think about getting old?
Ay that is the question.
Tomorrow rapes the day
of sentiment, the curling
onion skin that never

unrolls.

And my mind cannot comprehend
old age.  The loose tooth
of retirement falls out.

Hope falls from yesterday
when,  albeit time allows,
the young scalawag crosses off

future’s possibilities as the
insensible droppings of
the cat who remains in the
corner.  The shedding of

youth’s romances.

Old age ponders through
rheumy tears the last
kisses , the shoulders
on which shawls

Droop


Caroline Shank
10.8.2024