My undoing

Cracked hands drift over this body I thought I knew so well    
a kind of fetish, measuring change    
   
these pernicious deceptions trick, confound: I could have sworn I am still new    
     
creases in these crinkled, declining cheeks halt chewed, chipped nails in their faltering tracks  
trembling, cold-ached fingers stroke, in wonder, thickening hair here, fail to plump thinning hair there    
watering eyes stop before the splitting ends
dulled ear pretends, this is not the burdened lung    
worn teeth catch coarse, slow tongue    
everywhere dry skin sloughs away, flicks loose    
slackened stomach becoming flecked, in stretched, silver slivers    
veins crisscrossed, one on another    
     
I could go on ... wax long on this, the waning    
     
merciful and practised absentmindedness (weapon against, testament to, corrosion)    
dulls the rotten warning ... 'til creak of knee, neck, back on jittered nerve tell the ancient truth:    
decay is real    
age comes headlong at me, uninvited, settling in and upon, with careless care-less purpose    
     
I am weakened    
whittled    
        winnowed    
                won    
I am undone