First Class

~

out of the blue, an old school 

photograph posted on social 

media, the class of ’62,

beautiful young children, 

all smiling as directed,

the pretty ones the quiet ones

the brainy ones the sporty ones,

I can name them all, some 

sixty years after, 

then I look again, realizing that 

if the image were taken today, 

many of those present would 

sadly, be marked as absent,

some of us have aged, becoming

wrinkled and now talk only of 

medications and pain but others 

in that picture will look

forever young which makes me sad,

then I look again, at those fresh

unblemished faces and cannot

help but feel a little envious and

that makes me feel sadder

*

© Graham R Sherwood 12/24