What is this noose
hanging around my neck
like a loud necktie?
No worries, it is merely
old age,
a common enough affliction
affecting 10 out of 10 Americans.
The ancient religious writers
loved to ramble on
about the body’s impermanence:
“dust to dust”
and the whole nine yards.
What a gloomy bunch!
Once while living in the city,
I passed a large gathering
in a public square
where masses of pink and black
balloons were being released.
Someone in the crowd said that
a circus performer had passed away,
and this was his
intended celebration.
The ancient Taoists had
the right idea.
They knew enough
to laugh and
shrug the whole damn thing off,
fear and dread
floating away
like a black balloon, a tiny speck
in the widening deep blue sky.
