Epiphany

Before I knew it

there were wrinkles

taking up residence

by my smile,

stray gray hairs

curling wildly from

my sideburns,

my aching, crackling

knee joints

betrayed me,

the memories

stuck somewhere in the back

require a more complicated

set of cues

to loosen them

from their

hiding space.

I needed longer arms

to read the small print

on my blood pressure

medicine

and I understood

the necessity of

euphemistic language like

“erectile dysfunction”

and I smiled because

these were proof

that I beat the odds

and have lived

longer than I thought

I would,

long enough

to be an old man.