Just walking down the hall

Saw you preening

In front of the mirror

Smiling

Giggling

Looking up

Then down

Seemingly amazed

By your face

As if for the first time

You were shocked

By how good looking you are

Good reason for that

Youth, youth, youth

Oh yeah and 9 years old

And you are simply beautiful

Grandchildren often are

However a mirror has two sides

I had forgotten the purpose of a mirror

Never knew I had one

A mirror

Just popped up in the morning

Ran my hand over my head

Patting down wayward hair

Mmm I looked good

So many years

I loved me

Young

Free

Healthy

I was my own dream

Problems

Were brushed away

With youthful energy

Only imperceptibly

Did an occasional

Indicator of age

Creep into the back of my mind

To be ignored with the blink of an eye

Only time, relentless time

Would open my eyes

To the gradual erosion

Of my youth

Spent middle age

Pleasantly pleased

With holding my own

Enjoying a moment

Of contrived acceptance

But now as my clock

Winds down

The wind doesn’t

Really catch my sails

I don’t scramble

To correct

What Mother Nature

Has eroded

But oh can I steal a moment

Back, just one

A glance maybe at yesteryear

Maybe Brylcream will show my shine

Or a different haircut

Of my receding hairline

Long gone are hopes

Of a tight midsection

I look around and now only see

The very young or

All my compatriots

But so strange

The mirror is only one side of the coin

The flip side is

The sweetness, the satisfaction

Watching your grandmother’s face

Of fifty years, no mirror

Just her face

Reflecting mine

I love her mirror!

FXC. 3/16/19