Quite apropos, I think, this amazing poem I heard yesterday on Garrison Keillor's Writers' Almanac. Especially in light of the subjects covered in Mixdorf's post about China.
"Borrowed Time"
by David Moreau from Sex, Death and Baseball
© Moon Pie Press, 2004
I will not die tonight
I will lie in bed with
my wife beside me,
curled on the right
like an animal burrowing.
I will fit myself against her
and we will keep each other warm.
I will not die tonight.
My son who is seven
will not slide beneath the ice
like the boy on the news.
The divers will not have to look
for him in cold water.
He will call, "Daddy, can I get up now?"
in the morning.
I will not die tonight.
I will balance the checkbook,
wash up the dishes
and sit in front of the TV
drinking one beer.
For the moment I hold a winning ticket.
It's my turn to buy cold cuts
at the grocery store.
I fill my basket carefully.
For like the rain that comes now
to the roof and slides down the gutter
I am headed to the earth.
And like the others, all the lost
and all the lovers, I will follow
an old path not marked on any map.
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3 comments:
wow - really good
This is a great poem. The part that really pulls at my heart are the lines about the boy who slid under the ice. It sends chills up and down my spine.
The end part about us all headine to the dirt, as dark as it sounds at first blush, ends up actually being a bit disarming; as if to say, "Hey, don't spend too much time feeling white liberal guilt about your good fortune. Your time, too, will come. So enjoy what you have now, while you can."
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