OLD AGE
 
Old Age crept up on me, I should have seen the warning signs
She snuck up surreptitiously and etched my face in lines
I should have seen her coming but I looked the other way
She inched up all assassin-like and turned my hair all grey
 
Old Age plays a cunning trick, she’s sneaky and she’s mean
She dulls your eyesight slightly so you can’t see where she’s been
It took a while for me to see I’d left my youth behind
Perhaps she dims your vision as a way of being kind
 
What they say is true though, inside you feel the same
You still feel like a teenager but look like an old dame
It seems like only yesterday, people would say to me
“You don’t look old enough” they’d say, “to be a mum of three”
 
Nowadays things are different though, when I meet someone new
They say “have you got grandchildren?” - to be fair, I have got two
But I still feel super youthful, I don’t feel like a grandma
OK I’m no spring chicken but have things really gone that far?
 
Something happened recently, now I know old age is here
She hit me like a juggernaut, a message crystal clear

I was travelling on busy train, this happened last weekend

All dressed up and feeling fine, going to see a friend
 
But as I past along the carriage, melting in the heat
An old lady saw me coming and she offered me her seat
I was absolutely gutted, to say I felt quite glum
Honestly, I could have cried - she was older than my mum!
 
I pretended not to notice, resolutely walked on by

Crushed inside, mortified, but held my head up high
Clearly one of us was deluded - please don’t say you think it’s me
She was knocking 80 - I’m not yet 63!
​
(I was only 58 at the time, but that didn't rhyme so I used a bit of artistic licence)