Elderly Lapse

Her name called but saw no one
her startled gaze could identify.
Still, there before her, the
beaming face of a large, florid
woman repeating her name,
someone totally unfamiliar. She
smiled tentatively as the woman
once again gushed her name 
then mentioned the workplace
a place she had retired from 
twenty years ago. She apologized
citing age as an excuse, and
fading memory. The woman
laughed graciously, said no
wonder recognition eluded
she is now grey and thirty pounds
heavier herself but you, she said,
look exactly like the woman
for whom a surprise retirement
party drew everyone, and then
she sang the chorus of the song
written to honour the retiree, 
to see her off to a new life of 
leisure. 'You picked a fine time 
to leave us' they had sung in 
unison. And, she mused
to herself, she certainly had.