Psych(e) Study
A group of 70-year-old men, asked to pretend
they were forty years younger,
found their shoulders to be wider,
their hearing and vision improved,
their gnarled fingers smoothed
long and agile – their bodies
remembering youth so precisely
that time halted, their ages froze,
and their minds smiled into the 1950’s,
re-becoming the young men
watching black and white television,
marveling at the first satellite in space.
If I am still for too long – forgive me.
If I am caught like rain on glass
in this moment, forgetting to blink,
holding my hands in my lap,
legs pressed one on top of the other,
if I shift so I can feel the heat
between our shoulders, standing
side by side – do not mind me.
I will not remember this someday,
but my body might
draw me into this moment
when my wrists are stiff,
my eyes misty and unseeing,
my skin cool and lonely.
I might be here again someday.
I want to learn how it feels.