Inside The Outside (Poem)

The old man shuffles away slowly,
each movement making joints ache
in a discordant cacophony.
Each step,
a trial of balance.
But inside, he is young, proud,
and full of a life and spirit
from a younger man’s day.

On the outside,
he’s bent,
and broken in so many ways.
He tires like an old battery
who’s charge dissipates quickly.
But on the inside,
he remembers
lithe and nimble
muscles that moved and sprung
like an untamed animal.
He relives
cat like reflexes
that never let him down.
He sees himself
as he views his movies of the mind,
strong and proud, filled with life
and in command of the world around him.
He sees this.
We see old.
He feels this.
We see broken.
He knows what he was,
and feels a sense of
frustration and sadness
at his loss of the person he used to be.
We see old.
He knows we see old.

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