Age

When I look in the mirror

My hair is black

(so who is this

gray haired man).

When I peek in a glass

I am sleek and trim

(so who is this

fat old man).

Youth, they say,

Is wasted on the young

And the young has

Much to waste and spare.

First time a tooth

Fell out during brushing

I wept

From the simple fact

that it insulted

whatever slim integrity

I had left.

Age is wasted

On the old,

Like a withered rose

Covered by frost.