Age

The carefree days of youth
have all passed me by.
Gone are the games and the small joys
Gone are the friends and the family
Gone are the streets of my remembrance
All gone, wiped away by time
Aged and wrinkled with a touch of grey
Body bent from pain and toil
tired from the burden of life
So many things have happened
So many things I have seen
So many pains and wrongs
Weighing upon my spirit
dragging me down, slowing my mind
Until I begin to wonder if I will live to see
my twenty-third birthday.