Hemlocked Heart

I found my first grey hair
It glowed from root to end,
A shimmering moonbeam
In a forest of frizzy brown

I guess twenty nine’s the year
My wayward hair starts to bend
It’s shimmer lights the bathroom,
Face framed in a golden blue crown

Smile line and crowsfoot stare
I’ll gaze into the mirrored friend
And one day find another found,
Someone reflecting my grandmother

A marbled milky way my armor
Time ticks towards that spot
Each strand a memory miracle
Constellations of my lifelong chart

My knees will crackle from ware,
My back will ache from thought
I cannot wait to have felt it all,
To wear years as well loved art

While drowsily wiping down the bathroom mirror
Unprompted, I found my first white hair today

The discovery demanded a rush of thought
All my heroes wear years upon their faces

A bag dog bite, a midnight fight,
A sun soaked freckled maze

My mothers, my teachers,
My workmates and friends

I’ve lived long enough now to be marked just like them