A Different Joke

The joke about old age
has always been,
The mind is the first thing to go.
 
But when it actually happens,
when you are no longer vibrant,
losing that spark that made you
 
so unique, when you try to
put together your thoughts
and the wirings in your brain
 
just won’t work in harmony
and all you can say are
sputtering phrases that even
 
you can’t understand, and when
even words become too much
to muster and all you have is
 
a distant stare and the world
looks back at you indifferently,
not even caring that you’re there,
 
that’s when you would hope
everyone would see that they
may need to tell a different joke.