Ancient

~ ~M

I feel so foreign to myself
Aging day by day
The signs of all this oldness
Just won’t go away

The outside looks so ancient
But the inside looks so new
If only the world could see
The inside of me too

I stare into the mirror
Wondering where time flew
The years they went right past me
And then I somehow grew

Young and beautiful one moment
Old and gray the next
Why we can’t all stay young
Leaves me so perplexed

© 2023 Michelle Cook

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/hands-human-old-human-age-seniors-4051469/

36 thoughts on “Ancient”

  2. Good stuff. I remember when I went off to uni I’d just turned 18. I said to my dad,

    “I don’t feel ready to leave home yet, I feel like I’m still only 17”.

    My dad looked at me and said.

    “Don’t worry mate. I feel like I’m still only 17 half the time”.

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  5. I feel this deeply. As loved ones pass and my time comes closer and closer, there is still so much I want and am trying to see, do, and take in. Yet, the weeks and years feel like they are passing more quickly than ever.

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    1. Sigh… 😔 If only there were a magic cure and we could at least slow down the process. There’s so much I still wanna do too. You know it’s funny… when we’re young we often wish we were older, but then when we’re older we often long for those youthful days. I guess the old saying is true, you never really know what you have until it’s gone.

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  10. I could relate to this poem. When I was in my 30s I was washing my hands and as I looked up into the mirror I thought, “These wrinkles are on the same hands I’ve had forever and now my face has a few wrinkles too, but I don’t feel old. I’m just the same on the inside. What a funny thing ageing is.”

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    1. It’s so true… and it just kinda sneaks up on us one day. We’re still just young us on the inside, but the outer us can feel so foreign sometimes. I think the way we carry on is to keep seeing the inner parts of us a young and beautiful because that’s where the true beauty resides. ❤️

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