youth and old age

to be young
to know so much and so little
at the same moment.
we have heated arguments at dinner.
a quick immature mind does not yet
know wisdom.
oh, to be old, to use a walker,
to vaguely remember what was once
so sharp, at the tip of your tongue.
where we once pranced, we now roll
slowly, and will eventually roll to
a stop.
a passage to an unknown.
we traverse this landscape,
watching those behind us,
believing we truly remember what
we were like,
watching those ahead, and knowing
that we cannot know.
So, we watch.