Thoughts on Reaching a Ripe Old Age

 

Lines penned by Herb on the occasion of his 85th birthday:

Are we alone alive of those who knew

people who never once heard anyone

say “fuck” or “screw”?

*******

It’s almost dark.

Let’s walk in the park

and then come home, take books to bed,

and listen with our eyes

to the voices of the dead.

*******

And then there was the Great Society

devoured by the great bureaucracy.

*******

AFTER DOING THE LAUNDRY

Now that I am older

and can take my time,

patterns of everydayness

satisfy like rhyme.

      Herbert Knapp