To look forever young…

Crow’s feet and laugh lines etched deep

Dark under-eye circles that do not fade with sleep

Grey hair that stubbornly seems to regrow

Energy that earlier in the evening dips low

In front of the mirror I stare at myself and obsess

Over signs of age, mourning the youth I no longer possess

At times I am tempted to resort to cosmetic methods to erase

The unappealing signs of aging, and chase

The impossible quest to look young forever

The irrefutable fact that I am aging, accept never

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I shake my head at the preposterous thought

While signs of aging bother me a lot

Masking them with cosmetic procedures appears

A clever form of lying to myself, I fear

That if money and time on hiding my age I were to expend

There would be consequences I did not intend

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The societal wiring to look young is strong

It is hard to accept that there is nothing wrong

With looking your age, to remember that the wrinkles that you see

Attest to lived experiences, wide-ranging in variety

To accept that it is normal for energy levels to decline

As you continue to age, like a fine wine

You trade more depth for youthful vitality

And make peace with your reality