Wear & Tear (Poetry)

I recall the slender, running girl
bare-legged and tanned in shorts
the rhythms of young, ache-free limbs
around the tennis courts.

The roller-skating, biking girl
her tenpin bowling glee
unflagging — oceans in reserve
of boundless energy.

Now I observe the flesh unfirm
the muscles’ feeble flab
while every effort saps at strength
until limbs droop and sag.

Where is that slim, so-supple girl?
her body once so strong
is rusted — withered with the years
the power drained — near-gone.

The best that age can offer now
since joints are stiff and worn
is cartwheeling in memory
to breathlessly perform

that easy surge expressed by youth
before the wear and tear
all movement free and flexible
and nothing past repair.