Can A Poem Be Made Of An Old Man's Worries? Poem by Shalom Freedman

CAN A POEM BE MADE OF AN OLD MAN’S WORRIES?

Can a poem be made of an old man’s worries?
For his wife’s health
For his own aches and pains
The children, the grandchildren
And their various problems
At various stages of their lives?

The Stoics were right
The more we have the more we have to worry about-

The money the work problems
Much else
The security problems- for the country the people the world humanity?

Can a poem be made of an old man’s worries
And all the questions he alone will never answer
And problems he alone will never solve?

We live and we die

And this old man
Like all the rest
Will die also-

Whether this is a poem or not
Whether this problem is solved or not
It is only one small worry among the many-

He will worry until the day he dies
If his mind is good enough for that
And then perhaps
He will worry no more.