Old Man

Image by Glenn Buttkus

Old Man

Who belongs to that face in the mirror
with the fat humidity bubbles
running through his reflection;
my father, whom I never met
but still may favor;
my grandfather, whom I seemed
to be a joyful clone of;
some graying stranger growing gaunt
with slender white streaks decorating
those black eyebrows of yesterday,
that last dominion before mister silver
banishes every evidence of ebony
on my hirsute second suit;
an actor who abandoned the stage
in order to teach the blind;
a movie star that no one recognizes;
a poet who happily embraces obscurity;
a hiker whose sad legs will no longer
allow him to climb in the Cascades?

Yes, all of them,
and several more
who will soon appear before me
in that wicked glass
on those steamy mornings
not yet dawned.

Glenn Buttkus October 2010

Listed as #22 over on Magpie Tales 37