ELDERLY WOMAN

.
When I was young
I laughed and ran,
And danced and sang,
And revelled in my lusty body,
Exploding with vitality;

My lips were full,
Radiant like rosehips,
And all the men desired me,
Their longing gazes following
Wherever I went,
And yearning for my kisses.

Now I'm a hag,
My energy spent,
My body like a piece of scrag
The butcher gives away:

I cannot prance or dance;
Lurching as I walk,
Clutching at my stick,
I am like a badly treated nag;
My legs and knees are
Twisted instruments of pain.

My skin
Is withered and thin;
My lips are tight and dry
Like rusty paper clips.

Now little children
Look away
When they see me:
Instinctively they know
That nobody should be like this.

I had not known,
No-one had told me,
Until it was too late,
What I was doing to myself,
When years of needless selfishness and greed
And heedless petty deed
Unnoticed poisoned all the fabric of my body,
Stealthily turning it to dust.

If only I were young again,
And knew that living without giving
Is slow and painful suicide.

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