A Storied Old Man
His life reads in color on the wrinkles of weathered skin
Papyrus with pigment of times remembered twice.
Vellum scrawls and whorls and whirls
Read as the hieroglyphs of his time.
A lurching library painted with jackets
Of red and black and blue and eventually gray.
His left hand tells a story of his twenties
And his shoulder blades speak of a midlife decision.
The tops of his feet exclaim the power of love
And his chest shows the still hot coals of betrayal.
Read him top to bottom
And you will hear a tale.
Read him front to back
And you will know a story.
