When age adds up

we shrink

into ourselves

getting smaller and smaller

we lose stature

losing inches in height

we lose our memory

slowly but surely

then the smaller we get

the smaller our world becomes

I watched my mother in her late years

she had always been so active

she loved the daily crosswords

an avid reader of the daily news

yet eventually she just gave it all up

nothing held interest for her anymore

the world she grew up in was gone

all the people she knew had passed away

with dad gone as well

there was no one left to converse with

no one who knew the world she knew

there being no point she said very little

toward the end she only smiled

she just let it all slip away

her world shrank down

to her bed and her wheelchair

that's all that was left

of her space in the universe.