Ninety Years Old

Memory fades,
you can’t recall
day of the week,
a friend’s number
you call every day—
weep for no reason.
Everything hurts,
bowels on strike,
bladder flows when
it is shut off.
Can’t walk or talk
or hear anything.
A mirror shocks
you daily—lust but
a remote memory.
Help to do anything—
trim your nails
rise from a chair,
getting in and out
of a shower.
Somebody else
drives your car.
You keep following
orders of your
former sargeant:
Wipe that smile
off your face
soldier!

Milton P. Ehrlich Ph.D. is an 89-year-old psychologist and a veteran
of the Korean War. He has published poems in Poetry Review, The
Antigonish Review, London Grip, Arc Poetry Magazine, Descant Literary
Magazine, Wisconsin Review, Red Wheelbarrow, and the New York Times.

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