The Past, The Present

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother.
...
And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all.

(I looked at the place where my legs used to be and thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me to grieve and to mourn and to pity)

Pretending Decades w/ Bushy Beard

Pretending decades with bushy beard and curled mustache, our herringbone knickers stay clear of the big ring, Bing rings, Tig wigs, mustard and ketchup. Tongue and groove, native tongue, sunset. I know better. I know that these cheese chips will go straight to to my hips, straight to my lips though, in they go, move my jaw to and fro and hem and haw about the big bar's bar brawl brah bro hoedown bro. I go, "I'm a stowaway stowed away (blown away) and led astray by the anti-gay anti-May Day nay say." I say "nay," they "yea" and ballet on an airport runway for sport. Well allow me to retort: "Listen to me report, distort, mash and wort, contort, glort, belort, fort, fortress, hortress, hostess cupcakes RIP."

Music for Sunsets

People
is
music
for sunsets
for big SSSSSing
through bike lanes
past surburban library parking lot solar arrays
under clouds big CCCCing
in robin blue
People
always
come
ar
o
u
nd

Itssunnyand75Itfeelssogoodtobealive