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

[brynmawr1]

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

I am
a broken old man, adrift
on a sea of night sweats
and misunderstood faces,  not sure where this comes from
my body a waterlogged raft
too stubborn to sink decently implied for me
and let the deep devour me at last.

If it’s all the same to you,
my life was an absurd one.     Is there anything you can add here to flesh this out?
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          really nice enjambment 
glancing towards the damned
sometimes with pity,
sometimes with surprise.      my favorite lines

I know there’s a joke
at the end of this empty math.
I just hope I can laugh.
when the punchline comes.

Hi TqB,
really enjoyed this.  obviously I've made suggestions above.  I feel I should explain the change to the first line.  One, it's a strong opening and has a little resonance with 'man', but more importantly it reflects the tone of the poem.  While there is a lot of self deprecation, there is an under current of the narrator having a strong sense of self and resilience and reflects that in a subtle way. Hope you find some useful.
Bryn