One Step Closer (Poetry)

I never thought I’d live all these long years
and find I only hankered for the past
I couldn’t quite believe youth wouldn’t last
now age admits its hidden cache of tears

The world rolls on but Oh! the body slows ...
it disobeys — no longer keeps good time
makes such a fuss with so few stairs to climb
ridiculous — the way it puffs and blows

Mind’s razor now finds morning’s stubble tough
the ear’s attuned to voices far away
memory plays tricks — fogs a sunny day
the ball is knocked off course — lost in the rough

This getting old just isn’t how I planned
and there seems little else to do but rage
locked in my skin and bone’s unyielding cage
curse both the stumbling foot and fumbling hand

And shun the mirror for a fickle friend
no longer kind, regardless how I feel
I face the years and all that they reveal
each minute one step closer to the end