Silver

I wrote the following poem based on the idea, that most asian people are blessed with youthful looks, vitality and energy well into old age. Maybe their diet and lifestyle have something to do with this phenomenon, but I have experienced this first hand with a friend I met in Hong Kong twelve years ago. After seeing her this year, I am stunned to find that she still doesn't look a day over eighteen years old! Ironically, she has trouble travelling through customs, as officials try to comprehend her biological age juxtaposed against her chronological age. I also work with a beautiful Japanese girl, who is ageless. As time goes by, she stays exactly the same (although she probably wouldn't agree with this statement!) apart from a perfect, silver streak to her hair.


Silver Streak

Time, harsh to most
Collects lines and wrinkles in the skin.
It plumps the mind and the body;
The soul no choice but to accept,
A primordial arrangment.
Ego wanes and appeases,
An unsubstantiated opponent, to its counterpart.
And to most, they suffer
the indignation of demise.
But for you,
Extraordinarily, a genuine
adversary of time.
Nothing changed-
But a single, silver streak to
your obsidian hair.


Lily Basnet