Not smiling at smiling me from the DMV.

Not watching an R without all of the PG.

Not even checking the squares of democracy.

Not from the biweekly that’s been mine since fifteen

Or the “X” on my wrist, indication foreseen

Of legalities between the day and night scene

But of the open chair at the adults’ table

And the forced naps once despised whole now unable.

Facts, according to secular tongues, now fable,

Now based on four pillars that is Future’s “stable.”

Aging is not just age, // a number for man’s laws.

Aging is not a stage. // Actors, too, have their flaws.

Aging is all beauty and chaos and discovery and experimentation and fluctuation and growth and honor and improvement and jeopardy and knowledge and liberty and magic and nostalgia and optimization and patience and quintessence and reflection and sophistication and transcendence and unsteadiness and vulnerability and wonder and xpression and youth and zeal.