Body Decay

What are these pains

I’m feeling each day,

is my body decaying

in yet another way.

First it was my teeth

giving in to the fight,

a garden of cavities

a dentist’s delight.

At last I think

I’ve saved what’s left,

but a mouth full of fillings

gives a jaw some heft.

Then it was the hair

I always wanted more,

but with rising age

it only grew on the floor.

I brush and shampoo

using warm and hot,

waging a war against

a shiny bald spot.

With all my efforts

I have little to show,

all I’ve accomplished is

to make my forehead grow.

Next was my belt line

always growing in girth,

making me ponder

am I going to give birth.

Like a museum my

wardrobe tells a story,

showing belts 32 to 44

a waist with no glory.

Once had bulk of muscle

from lifting weights,

now turned to fat

can life have worse fates.

Now a little work

around the yard,

and my body is screaming

from moving all the lard.

At one time I claimed

overweight by 10 percent,

now grown to twenty

A fact I truly resent.

Little by little the

body gives up the fight,

growing more and more tired

and earlier in the night.

But still there is hope

I won’t give up on me,

I still have my hearing

and I can even see.

Maybe next the muscles

they feel so tender,

no not my memory

but I can’t remember.

Gary R. Cramer

July 20, 1987