Is there a slow transition from living to dying?
Or does it happen instantaneously?

When my feet stopped growing at thirteen
I realized I can wear those 7.5 size shoes forever.
Did that signal my march towards the grave?

When I stopped growing a year after
I reached 5’5, the tallest I will ever be.
Is that when my body began to sink into the Earth?

Or was it when the summer excitement
mellowed each year to weariness?
Or even earlier

when my father stopped carrying me to bed from the car?
Is that where it begins?
Ends?