I Feel Old Today

I feel old today
My body hurts, my mind is slow
An unknown chill creeps within
and weariness seeps through my bones.
Like an undulating wave the feeling
spreads from head to toe.

I feel old today
Giving my mouth a smile that
my eyes do not reflect,
Speaking words of comfort and
cheer I do not feel,
And trying to hide it all from
A world that goes on it's merry
way as though I don't exist.

Like a hollow eyed child
whose belly is swollen with hunger
and the pain of abandonment,
My soul screams out with the
injustice I cannot change.
No one seems to hear, or
understand, or care,
And I feel so old.

I fear becoming what I see and hear.
My heart has no tears left.
Where once the joy bubbled freely
from a depthless well,
Only the echoes remain, like
huge cracks in sun dried mud....
I feel so very old today.