Old

 They were from another era

with their failing faces and morbid bodies

so we ignored them because they had nothing to tell us

that would interest us

The old were monsters we detested and avoided

and they wanted us because our eyes held something they had lost

they wanted our thin waists, our courageous   smiles

our defiant eyes that did not beg them or want them

But we chose a few of the old 

the ones we liked that were not stained by life

the ones who taught us

the ones who looked good 

the rest we avoided 

the ones that sat heavily in their government chairs

hiding government files

the ones who sat in restaurants lonely and waiting

the ones who moved silently waiting for those long gone

the ones who tried to revive the lost years

Now we move heavily 

and we have have the same wistfulness in our eyes

now our eyes are sad and searching 

reaching out for an identity in the eyes of the young

now our voices and silent and forgotten

now we are avoided

Now we are old.