I watch those eyes staring at me

V-shaped scowl though not unhappy

Bleak circles present beneath the glasses

Charcoal tiredness that comes in flashes

Familiar abstraction, getting old a fraction

The weight of life hoping for a distraction

I knew this look since I was little

Laced with a pledge I used to belittle

Not in the same depth or the same grace

For in the mirror, I saw my father's face

*****

*Poem written for PoetsPub BCE 2019
**Picture belongs to Howard H. White blog