So many blank stares,
Eyes focused somewhere far away
Dwelling perhaps on other thoughts
Of another time, of other loves.
Living other dreams,
Sailing other seas.
Their skin so thin and brittle
Mottled and wrinkled
Transparent as rice paper
And just as fragile.
Their eyes are rheumy
Lost in faded images
Their backs are bent.
Even memory is cast
Into the dustbin labelled “Lost”.
All their charts blown away
No stars to guide them.
No lights to warn of crushing rocks.
Unmoored and left to drift
As familiar ports fade,
Sinking below the far horizon,
Never to return.
As newborns all we know is clutch and suck.
Then claw our way up and out
Only to be thrown back to a time
When all that we’ve gained
Is cast into the realm of fantasy
And faded sight.