Old Men on Benches
Nov 2, 2020
A poem from 2008
The years know better
They know the true
In the half-truths
What about those old men on the benches by the sea?
Who have they lost and
What do they know
Why do they look
Sadder,
Lonelier
than the rest
Of us sad, lonely people
They wear hats
And to someone else
They must tell stories
Writers — all —
When they can’t sleep
A flag almost flat across a balcony
A flag of a people divested
Of their country
By a government
That had to rule by force or else
Not at all
The drawer
The flag was in
Holds what
Now
And the sea
It has not changed.
To sit by it
Remember
or Forget
Day
Year
Loyalty
Then it might have mattered
Today is the secret
