Investing in My Future

Little time remains for me

Auditors observers come and go

But I’m the only version of myself

And while I oppose death

Death I’ll warrant opposes me

And you can guess the likely outcome

 

Even families go on

They have generations

Fathers mothers sons and daughters

And offspring on and on

So that a hundred years from now

There’ll be a trace of them

 

I hope they keep good records

Have good memories and pass

On the stories of their forebears

Else we’re over when we’re over

 

What would it take for me

To slip a poem to one or another

And remind the little darling

To pass it on to those to come

I’ll sign my name to it

To avoid misunderstanding

 

I can just see some clever fellow

A century or so from now

Looking at it skeptically

Asking who’s he and what’s this

My luck he dislikes poetry or worse

Poetry’s almost extinct

Or altered so dramatically

My scribbles won’t stand a chance

 

Now I might find this challenging

Given who I am but who can tell

What this fellow might be like

Why even a mother can’t tell

How a son or daughter will turn out

Nobody understands tomorrow

Hard enough understanding right now

Or ten thousand yesterdays

 

Perhaps I should throw caution somewhere

And try to be remembered now

By those I have nearby

Whoever they may be

Keeping a safe distance to encourage toleration

Hoping that on meeting

They’ll greet me by my name

And know a bit about me

 

Later when they feel comfortable

I’ll slip a poem to them

And another and another

So they can entertain each other

In a literary vein

That way I won’t have to ask any favors

Just sharing what I’ve done

 

The way to have a future

Is to have a present first

 

1/24-25/10

Copyright 2010 by Maurice Leiter

Posted with permission.