Upon Turning 50

Does fifty feel different?
Does it look different
From 39 or 49?

Am I old?
Eldery?
A senior citizen?
Or caught somewhere
In the in-between?

Have I lost my edge?
Can I carry on
Being, living, breathing?

Should I sit
With a blanket over my lap
Quiet and sedate?

Or do I rage
Rage and fight?
Refusing to give in
Refusing to lie down
To this new age.

Do I accept
The things I cannot change:
Looser skin,
Ten extra pounds,
The aches and pains?

These things,
Now a part of me,
But do not define
How I see myself
Will fifty define me?
No. 

I refuse
I insist
I rise
Above that number
That AGE
To find myself again.

New.