How fragile the body is,
Abused in youth…
Cigarettes, whiskey and lust.
No worries,
It will last forever…
Agile and strong.
Foolish we are in our early years
Believing we are invincible.
Then suddenly we awaken,
Backs ache,
Knees crack,
Eyesight weakens;
Who is this elder in the mirror?
Perhaps the best we can do is to live well,
Saving a piece of this body for old age.
The day the first pains arrive
Is the day we finally realize
…We aren’t immortal.
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Dom DiFrancesco 
Well said . . . and don’t I know it! 😉
Thank you Hawk, it seems that I am not alone when it comes to this. 🙂
Not at all!
We aren’t immortal? Now you tell me.. When I was young I abused my body at work.. Paying for it now.
I’m sorry to say the we aren’t immortal. I see that you have found this out the hard way as I did…and guess what…now we have to pay the piper. 🙂
So true. It just hit me the last couple of years. I was still thinking I was in my 20s till one day I woke up and realized I was in my 40s. Not as fast as I was. Can’t ride my mountain bike all day. Can’t drink alcohol because it takes a week to recover, when I was young I could go all night and work all day. It all catches up. I accept it and want to explore this new chapter in life, which comes with a different perspective of life.
I’m in very much the same situation as you. I used to be able to do all of those things, biking, drinking and partying all day and night and not give it a second thought. Now that I’m over 50 those days are behind me. I will say though that there are some very good things about getting older that I wouldn’t trade to get my youth back. Thank you for the thoughtful comment my friend, I really do appreciate it.
I think it’s a good thing we’re foolish in our younger years — it gives us memories to smile about, or shake our heads about 🙂 But then, at some point, that elder in the mirror shows up… then living well and being smart about it becomes much more important.
I suppose that you are right. I do look back at some of the stupid things I did when I was young (not that I still don’t do stupid thing) and I do laugh about them. They are wonderful memories of sorts. 🙂
Truth, Dom
Thank you Heather. 🙂
We aren’t immortal, but our actions can be.
I suppose they can from a spiritual standpoint. 🙂
Well said!!
Thank you.
Sort of depressing – but true! And it’s ironic that we don’t appreciate how our body works until it doesn’t…
You’ve got that right. Until you start getting aches and pains you really don’t give the body as second thought. 🙂
So very true!
Thank you Chris.
Truer than true my friend. A beautiful post.
Thank you so much, sad but true I suppose.
correct – well said!