MANY POEETS HAVE WRITTEN EULOGIES

Many Poets Have Written Eulogies

If my dreams had not reached for the sky
while my actions had not slogged along
corny, confused, and wary.
If my days had not worn clothes
dated, wrinkled & weary.
If my youth was not lost on star-gazing
or if Fate had toiled harder without lingering
in less bright & other-directed ways,
I might not wallow now in this buttery haze
better known as old age
to close out in solitude, my days.

If I live to be one hundred and ten
would I see love affairs, intended
or coincidental, turn the 7th-year bend
& in false promises never end?
If that would be the settled case
then please carve on the polished face
of my tombstone, a worldly grace,
He saw things others didn’t.
Lend me in my final peace the power
of my elegiac soul to atone
for paths I’ve taken against the norm.