oh my God,

that smell. . .

so odiferous in strength

that it could penetrate all seven heavens.

that smell. . .

manufactured naturally as

the pharmaceutical by-product

of pills and potions meant to mask

what we all must someday endure

that is, if we are human.

4-U-C there is no guarantee

of a physical manifestation of

a live extended by

collagen

botox

or horse pee

for even the researchers who create

the image of beauty

(and it is just that, an image)

do not behold that wisdom in the eyes

of those whose hair shows evidence

of having been there,

and done that, and whatever

that that was, these are the

that's that we should replicate.

those that's are more than synthetic

DNA (which really means do not ask)

. . . for scientists don' know why they

exist their own damned selves, much less

can't tell us about the secret of life--

but dare you pay attention to the eyes of a

warrior human who beat God's odds

by 20-something years. . .

and witness the secrets of the universe

unfold before your own aging eyes,

and sometime, if you're lucky, you too might

earn the right to journey

where oracles have gone before.

© 2004 by cynth'ya lewis reed