Describing what it’s feeling like to age
and watch my peers advancing by my side,
I sense we’re all condensing. Like our gauge
is dialed back, and where it once was wide
is narrowed and it’s concentrating traits
that bloomed a quarter century from birth,
that leveled passing middle-age’s gates,
and chipped like a cut gem our span on earth.

The shape elongated to a marquise,
the facets catching and reflecting light,
comprising every hue in its degrees,
through center widening, on edges bright,
my transit has been smooth and seldom cruel.
I’ve worn the gift of living like a jewel.