AGING, AS SUCH

"How are you today?
Mrs. Hazel"
"I'm okay for somebody incarcerated."
Remarking from a bed that is not her own.
Her freedom stripped away by the years.
Her home sits empty.

"How are you today?
Mr. Paul"
"I'm better than I was yesterday."
He scrambles from a slumber that has captured him.
His strength fading as he battles disease-induced
A yard once immaculate now showing the signs of an ailing master.

"How are you today?
Mrs. Dot"
"I am in a mess.
I want to be at home but I know I can't go back."
Tears highlight the anguish and muffle the conversation.
Her home the property of someone else, now.

How is he today?
Or Tomorrow
He's only one step away.
They are only one step away from an altered life.
Whether it be sickness, or accident, or aging.
Their homes may not sit empty, their yards unkept, their belongings the property of
Someone else.

He thought the later years were golden?
What's so golden about them???