it is not youth you see
in that shrunken body,
and loss of pudginess
is not fitness.

i sometimes fear
that wearied shriveling
has reached through too
to your heart--

an aging victim
of proud bitterness--
innocence gorged now
by the common Worm--

so very, very common--
grown consumptive
into that mean and dusty,
self-blackened void.

07/22/2008

Author's Note: For "D"

Posted on 07/23/2008
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