How much space, food, money,
Fame, sex do you really need?
And there are numerous variations
On the same theme: how fast
Or stylish or rare a car? How
Many homes, how many different
Places? If you’ve got a chauffeur,
A midtown penthouse, with a
Lavish bath, wine storage, a chef,
Do you really need the pied de
Terre in Paris or the villa atop
Capri? What would kids do in
Places like that except get
Bored silly, waste their lives in
Drink and drugs with absolutely
Nothing to challenge them?
Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad.
Maybe they’d be fascinated by
Public health battles in countries
Rife with malaria, African River
Blindness, malnutrition, infant
Death. Lawyers, scholars or
They’d discover themselves
Scraping the dirt in a Nebraskan
Family farm living the simple
Life in joy over farm fresh
Eggs for breakfast, fish from
The swimming hole, grooming
Their horses in the barn. What if
You found la dolce vita a tad
Wearisome after a few years,
Your friends self-centered and
Shallow, interested in you only
For the parties and the gifts.
Your wife, if you kept one,
Has lost her sparkle, is devoured
By lunches, shopping, and
Travel, she (or they, if you’ve
Exes) only remind you of your
Aging, younger women are
More imaginative, lively,
And avoid saying things that
Tell you of waning power?
Nothing anymore returns the
Joy you knew in earlier years
When climbing, conquering,
Gambling against fortune,
And winning. You can’t
Go back to the old town of
Your roots, your friends, you
Wouldn’t recognize it. Your
Friends have moved on too.
Some died, one in jail, the
Others might not remember
You, not remember fondly.
What if you turned around,
Left it all, gave it to a trust
To support the clinic in
Zimbabwe, the one your
Kid (or someone’s kid)
Founded and ran before
The rebels killed him by
Accident in a drunken spree?
What if you had one last party
And disappeared the next day
To some rural town in the midwest
Where you, your wife (if you
Asked and she came along)
Would raise free-range chickens,
Grow a vegetable garden and
Flowers, join a church, serve
As mentors to the young, and
Planned for very small funerals
Open just to family, a few local
Friends?
c. J.S.Manista, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment