Theoris Served Sophocles In His Old Age
Who will serve me in my old age
Watch me crawl into bed without dinner
again
Thinner than a dry sheet flapping in the
wind
Too lazy to turn off the light, splayed toes
Sticking out, afraid of sharp corners
Or sudden motions in decomposing dreams
I may not wake from
Or slurping up my soup that got cold
While I stared for everlasting moments
At linoleum patterns on the floor around
my socks.
While everyone in the world, it seems, is
up
early treadmilling before banging out
bright days
When chilled Chablis toasts are hailed
for buddies whose accents haven’t died.
Without thoughts of forgiveness or regret
When every clock in the house stopped
at midnight twelve years ago
When days leak into dull tomorrows
I once again visit the plot being reserved
next to her on that little knoll in the
cemetery.
Clarence Allan Ebert
Ebert was recently published in The Bluebird Word (Jan. & May 2023); Bourgeon (Feb. & July 2023); Poetry.com (Runner-up selection in March & June 2023 contests); and upcoming in Winged Penny Review, Fall 2023 and Bourgeon, Print Journal, Fall 2023. He is a Boomer (71 years old) and a "survivor" of cancer (colon & liver). He first published a poem, Recipe for Harmony in 1978. He has written in numerous different genres including news & magazine articles as a journalist, short fiction, flash, legal articles as an attorney, & poetry as a father, lover, and permanent student. He writes what falls on his old head, revises, revises, and feels happiest when writing, published or not. Hi motto is simple. People in his social group, boomers surviving cancer, are as relevant in this wacky, weird, and sometimes wonderful world as the next son-of-a-gun. Poetry (personal creativity) is one way of showing our bounty of wisdom!