I shouldn’t have looked… (based on a true story); another poem on the topic of the shock of aging:

A Quick Glance in the Mirror…

Who is that in the mirror?
I’ll swear it isn’t me
Surely I’m younger, better-looking
With a smile that needs no dentistry

Mine can’t be that wizened visage
Skin like bark on an old tree
And thin, unhealthy hair
It simply cannot be

Those roomy bags that sag
Beneath those rheumy eyes
That downturned mouth
And vacant look of mild surprise

That chicken-wattle neck,
Chin three-days past a shave,
That pallor that might well be seen
On someone three-days in the grave,

Those tufts that sprout unbidden
Like wire from every orifice,
and make a mockery of what
(Some-once-said)

was quite a handsome face,
Who is that in the mirror
I cannot think who it might be,
But one thing is for certain
I’ll swear it isn’t me

a quick glance in the mirror