First and Last Days (A Little Prayer, revised, new title)

[TranquillityBase]

I’m a old man adrift on a sea 
of night sweats, dreams
where dodging faces 
surface in the waves,
my body a waterlogged raft
too stubborn to finally sink 
and let the deep devour it.

A tangle of wet sheets
wait for me on waking.
I groan and creak, 
a  worm-eaten galleon rising 
from the bottom of sleep
salt water dribbling down my chest.

Drowning in dread
of another day in decline
I hail the young
who guard these coasts
sea-borne saints
who glance in my direction
and turn away, indifferent
to my senescent struggles.

First and Last Days



My eyes signal 

that I’m still here

to angels who glance 

and turn away

sometimes with pity,

sometimes with surprise.









First and Last Days







My childhood is back,



its vengeance is divine,



buzzing in my ears like flies.



But this time round I’m an orphan,



set adrift by too much time 



on an ocean of night sweats 



and dreams of misunderstood faces,



my body a waterlogged raft



too stubborn to sink 



and let the nightmares devour it. 







My eyes frantically signal 



the young that I’m still a child



angels who glance 



at my mortality and turn away



sometimes with pity,



sometimes with surprise.























A Little Prayer







“I’ll wait for Jesus, if he’ll wait for me” (graffiti)















I’m a broken old man







adrift on a sea of night sweats







and misunderstood faces,







my body a waterlogged raft







too stubborn to sink decently 







and let the deep devour me at last.















If it’s all the same to you,







my life was an absurd one.







Who knew absurdity







could become so fragile?







Now it creaks, exudes foul gases,







disgusts the young







who see the pale rider 







behind my eyes







and turn away, angels







who glance towards the damned,







sometimes with pity,







sometimes with surprise.















I know there’s a joke







at the end of this empty math.







I just hope I can laugh







when the punchline comes.