What fell mystery is aging?
Some dread erosion to bone and skin
The bios inward slows its raging
And soil joins to elder kin.

Is this some awful tragedy,
Some invasive species from without?
Our cells do their work with apathy
Like old men suffering from gout.

Yet time still gathers wisdom
In the mind – though brains may wither
And wisdom gains a welcome
From the One who calls us thither.

With age we gain and lose, according to the ancient curse.
Yet to him who does not lose, we are good coin, and earth the purse.