Richard Kalfus

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A Lament Of The Aging

A LAMENT OF THE AGING

I am old.
So I’ve been told
By magazines and TV commercials
Portraying perfect complexions,
Perfect hair, no bald men here
Perfect, sculpted bodies,
Ready to jog
to save the world
In a cancer run

Am I envious?
You bet I am!

I am naked
So many years ago.
Standing before the army doctor
Who wrote, without a word:
“The 19 year old is fit to serve.”

A quick glance in the mirror now
to register
the wrinkled, blotchy face
The protruding stomach
The breasts I never had
The bald head of Mr. Clean
without the muscles
of a television day

I look around
in the community pool
at the men and woman of my age
and am comforted
in a grotesque way
to be able to say

I may be one of many
Yet not the worst
among my peers
in this our final stage.

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