"THE SMELL OF OLD AGE" BY CHAS IDEHO

The smell of old age, a tapestry spun

From sunlight softened by the lowering sun,

Of dust-lined books, worn hands, and skin,

A scent that holds all we have been.

It’s the faint, fading lace of perfume in air,

Once sweet and bright, now a quiet affair,

Of wood polished over decades of time,

And memories steeped like old, vintage wine.

It’s leather and paper, thin as a sigh,

The whisper of decades that drift and die,

Fabrics once vibrant, now muted with years,

Threadbare with laughter, washed out with tears.

In silent rooms where shadows stretch,

Where age and history leave their sketch,

This fragrance of endings, of still, quiet grace,

Is the breath of our years, a final embrace.

© CHAS IDEHO

- Nigeria

The poet persona gives the uncontrollable changes that occur to elderly individuals. These changes extremely makes one different from the energetically young days.