STARTING OVER

STARTING OVER

The day does what it always does:/ goes away... /We need time to keep starting over. --- From “Counting Chicken” by Hannah Stephenson, The Storialist, 09-28-11

That day will come when another

will not, and there is no starting over.

Where will I find myself? How will I

strike it out of my calendar? Why?

 

Swinging on my hammock. Waiting.

No one arranged my empty schedule.

I would have to be grand and civil

then to uninvited guests? No choice.

I did not have to be born. No choice,

some hired help pulled me to an exit.

From darkness, I found light, and I

wailed till I could have turned blue:

 

“No, there must be some mistake!”

My scream was not that articulate.

All attendants at my beginning said:

“He breathes. He cries. He is alive.”

 

When that random day comes, I

will be generous with my Domecq.

Shall we have brandy, then, Monsieur?

How might I help you with your burden?

 

Ever the gentle host honed in niceties

now long gone from a trashy world,

I invite the closer of the deal to a toast:

“Long live days with no starting over.”

 

Why do I fret then about that little day,

while I sing my little Marie a lullaby?

She puckers her infant lips for a suckle

I could not provide, but settles for a cuddle.

 

Tremulously, I start singing the lullaby

over. Abuelo will be here hugging you

safe and warm though hell freezes over.

It is a covenant that has no starting over. 

 

--- Albert B. Casuga

09-28-11