Beautiful Age

I think old people are beautiful.
I'm not afraid to stare,
because if they see you, they smile
sometimes
If they don't, I wonder if they've had a hard life, or a sad life
I watch how they walk and wonder where they've been
and if I look into their eyes, I sometimes see a sparkle and I wonder what they're thinking
Their cheeks are wrinkled and so are their noses and eyes and mouths and necks and all over
and every wrinkle is a care or a little bit of wisdom they picked up
somewhere, sometime,
before I was born
An old lady. I see her hands, wrinkled, knotted, spotted. They did a lifetime's work; held all her babies; held her husband's hand.
I see an old man, sitting outside on a bench, leaning on his walking stick, looking at people passing by
and I wonder how his world has changed since he was as young as me
I wonder what he's seen and what he has to say, where he's been and what he's done
I wonder if he's thinking, "You have no idea."
Has he fought in a battle or seen his friends die? Is he a husband, father, brother?
Doesn't anyone want to ask him?
But everyone walks on by...

Still, he sits
and I think he's beautiful


Proverbs 16:31
“The silver-haired head is a crown of glory,
If it is found in the way of righteousness.”

Proverbs 23:22 “Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.”

Leviticus 19:32 “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.”

Soli Deo Gloria!

Taralyn Rose~