Neighbours

These are your neighbours, now
grandparents to children as young
as their own were when you first
knew them. Some have become
firm friends, others have
disqualified themselves from
that inner circle to remain firmly
acquaintances, but all are like
close-bound residents of a
small village whose moments in
life become public knowledge
by consent of the inevitable
or by design. Now the common
interest is the afflictions of
implacable aging as all are
bemused by the little-noticed 
alterations in appearance, where
grey is the mutually shared common
denominator. That, and the growing
litany of hip-and-knee replacements
heart surgeries, catastrophic fall
recoveries and post-surgical
treatments for an encyclopedia
of diseases. There, on the street,
where neighbour meets neighbour
each sighs to the universal refrain
of time and tide's impatience.