My Cake Runneth Over

Another year
Another ring on the tree of life
Another white hair
Another wrinkle
Another twinge
Another lost neuron.

I look in the mirror and see an old lady
She smiles, I smile back
But I don't recognise her.

Where is the young girl who used to smile back at me?
Where has she gone with her unlined face and bright eyes?
With a spring in her step and all those years of life in front of her?

She is nowhere to be found.
She has slipped away over time, unnoticed,
And left a stranger in her place.

I do wish she had stayed.