Suddenly

It all passes in the blink of an eye.

Dewy skin.

Bright eyes.

Acute hearing even.

Hair everywhere you don’t want hair to be

while the hair you want has gone missing.

It all passes in the blink of an eye.

The ability to jump.

Just jump, any height for any reason,

Down a step.

Up

onto a rock.

No longer able to even envisage

that once youthful energy.

It all passes in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, a baby boy is thirty years old.

Suddenly, he no longer needs your help

To eat or walk or talk.

Suddenly, he’s a man.

And you, you are an old woman.