—
I have but one living blood relative,
I think—
(That “I think” being a cheap
and tawdry wink-wink)
But I depress
Back to the sibling;
A brother
Like me
Now, an old man
Like me
And an old hand
Like me
In hoarding regrets
And trespass
And never mind the time stamp
on the infringements;
the this or that damn deed done
decades ago
And a “way back then” doesn’t mitigate
And young and dumb—often desperate
will grant no dispensation
And like Now Times, an infection can
mutate in a damn minute into a wound
collecting draft of a contemporary army
made to rewrite and prosecute
the erstwhile
Well,
I make it 6 to 5 and pick ‘em that
we pass before speaking
And you, have a nice day.
