The Old Man
2
I know what you see.
I know what you see when you're looking at me.
Eyes clouded over, skin wrinkling away,
my body crumbling with every step I take.
Wisps of grey on a mottled scalp,
teeth breaking down in a yellowing decay.
But in this noisome carcass, that will
soon feel the breath of death,
hides a man,
young and proud,
longing for anyone
to listen to his story,
for just a moment...
I was once like you,
muscular and arrogant ,
strutting along with every
step I took.
In school, I was known and
admired.
Intelligent, athletic, and even
humorous too.
At twenty five I was married
to the prettiest woman
in town,
boasting to every soul
that passed
about her beauty.
And soon we had two children
that we could call our own,
happiness never seeming to end me.
By thirty five I was successful,
owning a profitable business
that flooded me in accomplishment
and
in riches.
I was naive, cocky,
thinking that my euphoria could never cease.
For I was wealthy and handsome,
with life answering my every prayer.
But suddenly my first tragedy occurred,
transforming my outlook
on life.
My strut became a little shyer,
my conceited grin becoming slightly
grimmer.
For my wife had died,
being a victim of
disease.
Her pretty face fading away,
slipping before me into
nothing.
never fooling them with my faulty assurances.
Trying to brush their
tears away and straining to find
a care in the problems they presented.
By fifty, my children had all journeyed from me,
moving across the country to different colleges.
And at that time,
my business had even
left my grasp too,
for the product had stopped
continuing selling.
What had become of my life?
What happened to the confident man who couldn't possibly
know catastrophe?
Who is that old man that looks back in the mirror at me?
At seventy they took me
from everything I knew.
Assuring that it was
"for the best".
I was told I couldn't take care of myself anymore;
Being shoved into a building with
men older than me,
who couldn't hear,
couldn't see,
couldn't feel anymore.
And now the colors are
becoming dimmer,
the bold reds and oranges
failing to keep their hues.
The food is loosing its taste,
as it is being forced down
my throat.
I know what you see.
I know what you're seeing when you look at me.
You see the old man lost in confusion.
The old man covered in wrinkles and decay.
You see everything I am now, and not what I used to be.
But next time you take a glance,
know that this could be
you some day.
Consider the path you choose to take, the one that
is shunning regret.
Learn from me, learn from my mistakes, learn from
the story I have told.
Because if I could go back in time, then I wouldn't be the old man
that I am today.
I was left to comfort the
children alone,
never fooling them with my faulty assurances.
Trying to brush their
tears away and straining to find
a care in the problems they presented.
By fifty, my children had all journeyed from me,
moving across the country to different colleges.
And at that time,
my business had even
left my grasp too,
for the product had stopped
continuing selling.
What had become of my life?
What happened to the confident man who couldn't possibly
know catastrophe?
Who is that old man that looks back in the mirror at me?
At seventy they took me
from everything I knew.
Assuring that it was
"for the best".
I was told I couldn't take care of myself anymore;
Being shoved into a building with
men older than me,
who couldn't hear,
couldn't see,
couldn't feel anymore.
And now the colors are
becoming dimmer,
the bold reds and oranges
failing to keep their hues.
The food is loosing its taste,
as it is being forced down
my throat.
I know what you see.
I know what you're seeing when you look at me.
You see the old man lost in confusion.
The old man covered in wrinkles and decay.
You see everything I am now, and not what I used to be.
But next time you take a glance,
know that this could be
you some day.
Consider the path you choose to take, the one that
is shunning regret.
Learn from me, learn from my mistakes, learn from
the story I have told.
Because if I could go back in time, then I wouldn't be the old man
that I am today.
By Madeline M.