Defeated

The face that stared back
was the same as I’d seen in People
the one on all the movie screens.
most people, when they saw him,
felt in awe
of the physical beauty
that was lost on even
the most detailed photograph.

A woman once saw him in an ice cream shop
and was so dazzled
she placed her ice cream cone
in her purse.

so used to seeing his dazzling beauty
was I that it shocked me,
when he filled my gaze,
it was a tired man I saw
defeated by age,
a loser to the gravity of time.
his beauty had faded,
caked over by wrinkles and dark circles.

In a society
where the young and firm are
placed high upon those pedestals
with platforms so small
it’s too easy to fall off,
he has slipped beneath the cracks
and become an aged
and inconsequential man.
as was the way with all old stars
No longer did he hold the title
of sex god,
no longer did girls race after him,
praying for just a glimpse of his face.

So disgusted was I
with the view of this man
that I turned away from the mirror
and turned off the light.