Ageing Song

"Cell Phone Self Portrait"

It the little things, you know

The sudden ache to go

It’s the breakdown of my body

The breakdown of my body

 

The deadness in the morning

After aching in the night

The breakdown of my body

The breakdown of my body

 

The softening of flesh

As it folds into a wrinkled mess

The turning of my hair

Into tasteless shades of gray

 

The dimming of my eyes

And all the little lies

To which my ears are prey

And fear grows everyday

 

For the breakdown of my body

The breakdown of my body

 

Oh, leave me halt and blind

But leave intact my mind

Or, perhaps it would be better

If my reason left me first

 

Then I’d never know

I’d never even see

The breakdown of my body

The breakdown of my body

 

The creaking bone

And rheumy eye

The birdlike hands

The livered lips

I see them like a hologram

Imposed on my reflected face

One can’t control

Impose one’s will

On ages rolling down one’s back

All I can do is watch and wait

And give up to my fatal fate

And cope somehow, now it’s so late

 

With the breakdown of my body

The breakdown of my body.