That Is What Papa Said To Me Before He Died Too. Poem by RIC BASTASA

i dread to this idea
of you leaving me and

me all alone in a room
worrying about my
being left out because

you have died of a disease
and that everyone is there
wishing me
to move on

it will be perhaps an
unbearable sorrow but i

remember grandpa who to
cure his wholesale loneliness
wooed a woman who at the age
of 19 waddles in poverty
and now would have a chance
to wed an old man for his
security

grandpa was into such
a scandalous affair for he
was then 75 and still
hoping for an affair to
make last for more years
in such a blissful state

to cut the story short
he married a hooker and
a gold digger which he
very well knew not underestimating
his wisdom and
keen business acumen from
which he accumulated wealth
to himself

but there he was
lonely and abandoned
by his grown up children
with lives of their own

he thought he still deserved
a life of his own
a happiness which his children
could not provide for him

so he took the risk,
chose happiness despite the
swindling and the fraudulent
schemes

until he died peacefully
and we attended the burial
and i was there
all alone too
understanding his predicament

his children talked about his
wealth and whatever was left
all about these inheritance
and share conflicts

i am in his situation now
and just like him
i do not really care.

that is what papa said
to me before he died too.