you ease into it

you ease into it.

this age thing. the minor aches
and pains,

the grabbing of rails
to get up a flight of stairs.

being called sir
and having doors opened for
you.

slowly you rise in the morning,
or from the car
after a long drive.

stretching out those legs,
those tight
once reliable knees.

you laugh at it though.
you remember bounding nearly everywhere,
a step ahead,

impatient to get from
here to there,
brushing by the slower crowd,

and now you let others pass,
you slow
and stop to breathe,

to take in the moment,
realizing how quickly youth
has passed.