wrinkles

the wrinkles on your own hands

(no matter how many lotions you have rubbed on them, no
matter how much vitamin e oils, no matter how many
antioxidants you consume---all in the attempt to stall or
at least slow down the process)

glare
up
at
you.

the small mountains rippling along your epidermis, the
glycating process oxidizing everything, the cortisol
produced as your own body’s frantic reaction to the
everyday stressors of your chosen life---all finally add
up---
and there they are,
plain as day---
wrinkles---
those imperfections specific to you alone,
but which you simultaneously share with
every being still breathing---
those marks of age which signal the
beginning of the
end---
depressions,
furrows,
the scrunching & the
shriveling, the
folds & the
crinkling contracted corrugations---
all scream at you in unison
silently, but alas,
deadly still,
that you are mortal &
that if you own a pug or a
shar pei,
it is true what they say about pet owners & their pets
(that they begin to look like one another)---
and it will only increase,
as you both get older---
just do you best to keep your
barking to a minimum when you are
outdoors amongst the rest of
us.