The left Achilles tendon tends to ache.
The hip joint on that side is known to give.
The portside shoulder yells at me to take
my bra off twisted front, and now I live
with twinge and weakness almost every day,
while night is time for broken sleep and phlegm.
I manufacture mucus when I lay
in bed, that exits face at 6 a.m.

It’s stupid-easy now to bruise my skin.
The smallest injury takes weeks to heal.
Forgetting, I assume I’m young within,
and then I’m dashed to see my frame reveal
how soft my vigor is, and frail I think
my future feels, that any fall may shrink.