To Waken an Old Lady

Old age is

not so bad

when you consider

the alternative.

There is something

I must tell you.

The trees

are all foreshortened

and the sky is

longer than it seems.

It is hard

for me to breathe,

but that does not

mean you must worry.

Tell me now

at last

I will intertwine

your thumb with mine.

Still, we can breathe

but hardly hear.

Look away now,

I am borrowing

your eyes.

• William Carlos Williams