Silver Spray (eternal youth of Charlie Perriwit)

Most children blossom
like a blue mountain flower,
until their weight on the stem
takes them to ground.

Charlie Perriwit
had no Daddy,
no passage to follow
like a dimly lit alley,
into manhood.

Silver Spray
for Charlie Perriwit
there's no other way
to hallmark his hair
with the symbol of age.

The wig never looked good enough,
so Charlie hides in an obscure hood,
hoping that people might fail to notice
he's really still young.

Crooked gent
in an angry chair
Studied affectation,
a well practiced routine of
grumbling and stumbling.

The passage of time
will never change this
boy into a man.

Poor old Charlie Perriwit.
What a curse!