Bestowed upon all youth…ironic.
I ran. I rode. I sang with joy to breathe!
Now to sit or pace, only coughing brings relief.
Scores of memories that tunes withdraw,
How they ring familiar as the sound of my name.
Try to imagine. Please! Seek to see!
The dance you dance was the same for me.
Though the gray conceals, my feelings are pure.
Amidst crowds, longing for a true blue glance,
I ache for love–tremble to romance. Friends,
Family, now all gone-Crusoe’s pain how bitterly known.
While you’re moved, “What song! My infants whisper!”
I beg escape-sterile hallways mute of laughter.
As you consume love’s quenchless fragrance,
I choke on fumes of vomit as sour urine fills the air.
How often I hailed, “All villains should pay”!
For out-right-wrong fairs punishment! Imprisonment!!
Now, peering beyond these hospice walls,
“Was I fooled? Is the reward of a good life confinement?”
No need now to fear, your end is far from near.
While youth withstands the stillness and growth defies departure,
I await six black bearers, emerging more frequent
Than a touch of Death; my catalyst for prayer.
Finally, when memory fades, you’ll roll not stroll on wheels for legs,
Straining to perceive through plastic ears, mere pseudo eyes,
These words will echo when you are me,
“I should’ve when I could’ve, treated them with dignity.”