Expiration Dates

Me thought only Credit Cards have expiration dates;

Never knew humans too have extermination dates.

Even when you reminisce on a simple rural life

Clearly, a boy becomes a man and the girl a mother.

Our nights turn into days and tears into joy,

The bright yellow frock fades into a dark hue rag,

And the sweet long laughter of glamorous newly weds

Turns into screams when sweetness expires.

So what was once a new smiling lady in town,

Soon becomes the rotted, disdained face no one wants,

And the mansion once flooded by myriad wealthy families

Is no longer the adorable place, but a decrepit abode.

I am told, those who sow in tears, will surely reap in joy

And those who sit in silence eating the bread of sorrow

Will see the proud scattered and the poor exalted.

So we too like Credit Cards have expiration dates.

When I was young, I proudly kept dirt off my frame

But what was once a beautiful blooming giant tree,

Now creaks with old age and from the once adorable frame

Comes a decomposing smell enough to make you squint.