Old Man

on self knowledge

Old man in the window studies me with appraising eyes

I return his stare with my own unblinking evaluation of him

Neither of us turns away from our unvarnished assessments,

knowing that we see each other more clearly then anyone else.

We know that changes have happened to even what seems unchanged

knowing that awareness is itself a change, we see that nothing is stable.

It is clear that the achievement of perfection, was always just a child’s fancy.

As peers in our self-knowledge, we smile or groan at our mutual experiences.

Then I turn from him, my new friend and committed enemy to face the day.

I turn off the light in the bathroom and try to forget the image in the mirror.

Reviews

[Caroline B A Maguire]

Funny this is so similar to my poem "me?" However you have used so much more imagery and your story is much more of a tale..however I smile at the comparison..if you check in I hope you do too. I enjoyed this very much..Caroline.