Later Years Poem by RoseAnn V. Shawiak

Igniting the fire of love years ago, holding onto you my
love all this time, never thinking of where we were headed
or what we'd do in later years when our hair was tinted
white and gray.

Joints getting tired, ailments of age coming suddenly upon
us without warning, eyes unable to focus, hands being
crippled with arthritis, teeth having fallen out and been
replaced with dentures, having to be taken out at bedtime.

No recriminations, just the effects of old age that have
come upon us here in the end of our days, holding onto one
another, for that's all we really have in life now, hoping
to be together, even at the moment of death.