The Skin I'm In

I've been thinking about skin
This envelope around us
This wrap that holds us together
I've been studying a face when young and old
People's faces young faces
This luminescent skin
These contours around the chin the cheeks the forehead
A young face, I watch from a distance, I don't close in
I think about the skin I wore when I was  young
And didn't even know this beauty of youth
Just handed over when you're busy worrying about your future
And I studied this rock star's face
When he was young and when he was old
And when he was young his beauty was astoninishing
and rendered people either silent or screaming
never whispering, never asking
But when he was old, the creases around his eyes invited me in
To linger longer
I've been thinking about how I wear my skin
How I use it shut myself in
How I button, how I zip, how I tie
To keep it all hidden
This light inside
This color leaves our skin
when we're ashen and gray
and the contours are hidden
by time lines of treasures and regrets
But if we learn to unbutton unzip untie
That light will shine we lost in our cheeks
will shine through our eyes
And our eyes will beckon others
To linger longer
And being loved
Is better than being admired
And when we're ashen and wrinkled
Then we'll learn to love the skin we're in