First the indignities of middle age
the post-menopausal paunch
the sneeze incontinence.
Then the outrage that you,
you of all people should have to--
so talented/beautiful/accomplished/young--
should have to put up with this loss,
this invisibility.
Then the self-pity.
Oh, woe. Woe, indeed.
You should not have to suffer this,
this inevitability, not you.
Then a sudden slump into something
beyond despair,
more like dissolution, but dissolution
laced with anger at the living.
Why aren't they saving you from
this awful fate? It's so unfair!
They get to live, you have to die
and soon.
No one told you this
except they did.
But you knew you were exceptional
the only one it would not happen to
you've been right so long
it literally kills you to be so wrong.
