Glasses At Sixty Poem by Mohammad Yousef

By Mohammad A.Yousef

At sixty,
it often feels like dawn,
a world softened, blurred,
like watercolors
left in the rain.
Eyes strain, squinting
to find the letters,
the numbers for each day,
loyal friends
that once sparkled clear,
now hiding behind a fog.

Rough mornings rise,
with mirrors cracking light,
the reflection, a poetry poster
of wrinkles and stories.
Hands reach for them,
the sidelong glance,
the eternal search for
the familiar pathways
of life, adoringly called routine,
a gentle pilgrimage where nothing
is mapped without those little frames.

Coffee brews strong,
a steaming whisper named focus,
but the screen—
it dances like fireflies,
taunting me to catch
the words that slip through fingers—
the news, the joke, the bill
that waits like a shadow
in the hall of my heart.

Shopping trips turn
to quests for clarity,
not just for what to buy,
but for the fine print,
the playful labels
hiding their secrets—
how many calories,
the hints of flavor,
the quick numbers, nudging me closer,
to snap up my desires.

At sixty,
I wander through crowded streets,
lost amongst a sea of faces,
the laughter ringing,
a melody without lyrics—
I can't catch those sights,
the smiles blurring past me,
the sun dipping in a haze,
each step carefully scripted,
each moment a mystery,
untold.

Friends wave,
their hands flying open,
but in the theater of time,
I'm miscast, a mere spectator
with a frame that serves no lens,
wondering:
what line did I miss?
What shade slipped by,
gone to the void of visibility?

It's hard to see the joy,
the twinkle of a shared glance,
the beauty in the innocent tangle
of their lives weaving alongside mine.
Yet here I stand, realistic,
acknowledging the veil,
that distance holding memories,
the sharpness of moments
clouded without help.

Ah, glasses are not just glass and wire,
they are the doorways back
into the laughter,
into the melody where every
face breaks into smile.
At sixty,
the world isn't darker,
just softer, but I yearn,
to sharpen those gentle edges,
to truly live again—
through clearer lenses.