57
old fart
in your eighty-sixth year
you often think in general
about the manner of your death
and who’ll come to your funeral
this then makes you ponder
which organ or body bit
might bring about your death
or make living seem not worth it
say if you’ve got diabetes
which I have in the lesser type 2
your continence becomes an issue
as threats to key organs accrue
the problem is in the treatment
pills attack the organs of waste
and you have to take more pills
so you won’t be disgraced
incontinence is worse of course
if you also lose mobility
worse than that is the chance
of mental instability
as yet there are merely dribbles
of such fearful possibilities
the worst that’s happened so far
is some appearance of senility
and so I tell myself
when all is done and said
better to be an old fart alive
than one of the saintly dead
Bill Hannan 