I noticed...

The double lines running from the nose to the chin;

The chin that wobbled with the added padding,

The neck that looked like parched earth, waiting for the rain.

Knees that hurt with each step, fingers that swelled up every morning,

It did not escape scrutiny, those thinning strands of silver, same as the watery, fading eyes

The canopy of leaves, inviting, green with young life, mellow with the morning dew

A decadent jar of sweetness, the call of the cuckoo bird, persistent, divine

The enchanting yellow flowers strewn across the walkway, soft and deadly

The little blobs of red grass, the ones that had escaped the lazy gardener

As the heart grows bigger, softer with tenderness, beating with heightened awareness,

Shuffling feet turn leaden, unwilling to walk away.

Spellbound at the cacophony, the melody and gladness of the birds, this buffet of sensations, 

The current of life, passing through the darkening skies, the soft wind, even the immutable rocks.

It had been sunrise a long time ago, now, it was time for sunset to bloom, 

Vibrant beyond the peacock's bloom, it beckoned, come, pause a while.

The gladness of life, that celebration of awareness, so temporal, so infinite

The journey would continue, beyond time.

I sat there as the last rays of the sun flickered fervently for a while, fighting, resisting,

and then,

I noticed how they gently paled into the iridescent darkness, contented, at last.

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