The question was: Write a description of an old person as suggested by this picture:
His face was withered with time. Battered, bruised and wrinkled from years upon years of life- his grey wiry hairs intertwined with one another weaving together a story of their own. The pleats on his skin seemed soft, perfectly placed yet full of emotion, lines above his brow carved into his skin from years of relentless yearning, stripes above his mouth from years of happiness- his face was a map of his life etched in section by section, scratched out from nothingness and now worn like a badge of honour.
When your joints have stiffened and you are too frail to walk, too weak to open your mouth and too fragile to defend yourself; know that you have conquered life and all its twists and turns. Know that each mark, scar and scratch is uniquely yours. Know that your eyes tell your story. His eyes certainly did. They were deep and downturned, almost sympathetic but somehow guarded. Years and years of emotion held inside of them, emotion that will follow him to his last days. They were the only thing on his face which carried no physical signs of ageing, lightly glossed over and slightly squinted due to the sunlight peeking onto his face.
Occasionally, he would smile or say a few words. His voice was hoarse, almost transparent but still surviving. Each word was spoken carefully and never out of turn, and as he exhaled through his mouth each breath seemed like a sigh of relief- thankful that this one was not his last. As he inhaled, the hairs on his upper lip and nose twitched with the passing air. He sneezed as the fibres irritated his nose. The mans facial hairs were long, as if they hadn’t been trimmed in a long time. Possibly, he liked the thick layer of fur which crept along his face and masked his mouth.
Possibly he hated it.
They say eyes are the window to the soul, his soul had certainly heard a million stories and seen a million things. The sadness that tinged his eyes hinted that his soul was ready to move from his body and take him on a new adventure. Time had finally taken its toll on him.