WHO WAS IT?

by Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Hawk Queen Bed 9:22pm

Who was it who said

“Old Age Creeps Up On You”?

He should be shot —

Old Age comes over You in waves

when You’re not even the one

Who’s old

when It’s Your Elderly Relative

perhaps a dear old ex mother-in-law

with bad circulation

or Hunter’s Best Friend

with no kidney function

or an old goat of a cousin

Who wants only to die

on Her Goat Farm in Vermont —

These are The Waves —

and They wash over You

and try to get You

and there’s nothing

You can do