Carry On

The mother has no choice

        But to watch her 22 year old son 

   Give up everything

       For a woman she can’t stand.

Last week they were helping him change his locks.

    This week his mother is blocked.

I tell her that love is crazy and sometimes we have to learn who is right for us by first experiencing someone who is all wrong for us;

But she can’t hear my words,

    Because her ears are filled with water,

As she drowns in her son's inevitable mistakes.

     I try to tell her that all boys have to fall in love with the wrong lady;

I sure as shit did a time or two,

    And I’ve turned out alright;

But she can’t hear me

   Because her heart beats too loudly.

. . .

Three weeks ago,

    A 93 year old lady

Was lying in a hospital bed,

    Just minutes before she died.

She never met her grandkids.

    No, her son never let her see them.

He says that she was a nasty lady,

    But that one sentence was all he ever spoke about her to his own son.

And now,

    I wonder what my grandma was really like . . . But . . . she’s gone forever. 

. . .

I’ve been hiding from a certain lady for a few months now,

    Because I am afraid

        Of what she could become to me.

But, I swear,

     If she keeps posting my favorite poems,

       I’ll have to come out of hiding,

       And face my fears.

. . . 

So many men are killing themselves out there,

And it seems to be the new normal;

Which is pretty alarming to me,

But no one else seems to be alarmed,

And no one seems to have any practical solutions.

I promise you

That I won’t ever go out that way.

No, not me.

I will rage against the dying of the light until I can't fight anymore.

And even then,

I’ll carry on.

I promise you that you don’t have to worry about me.

No matter how dark it gets,

No matter how many times I visit hell,

No matter how many times I break,

I will rage against the dying of the light until I can't fight anymore.

-CH 5/2/25