i wonder what you're thinking of,
as you sit there all day long, handicapped by old age and inconvenienced by diabetes.

your large round eyes turn to stare at me, but i dare not look back. i've often gazed at people your age, silently wondering how life is like for you.

do you feel helpless? do you feel like you're a burden? do you know what your children think about you? do you get up to sit in the dark all by yourself and weep at night?

or do you feel enlightened? you've spent some time looking at the world from the sideline now.. what have you realised? do you know something we don't?

whenever i approach somewhere near you, i put on a bright smile and greet you, but quickly hurry away. but why? what am i afraid of?

i recall the many times ive seen an elderly person and felt the urge to draw nearer.. to sit beside her and scrutinize her wrinkled face.. to ask the many questions that i've always yearned to ask.

you've lived for so long now...

what do you know about life? or are you, like the rest of us, still none the wiser?

i know, it's a matter of time -- a few years only, in fact -- before i go through what you are experiencing right now. the funny thing...everytime i've been told to 'see' my future self, i've never pictured the huge successful artist that i want to be. i closed my eyes..and i've always seen old age and death.

in you.. i see my future self. sort of.
so curious, excited, scared, eager.. to find out more.