The Old Man And The Young Child...... Poem by RIC BASTASA

we teach a child to walk
we like how dependent can he be
we are proud
a little confidence grows in us
that in walking we are reliable

the child grows and copes up
with our getting older
soon he will too teach us how to walk
and even how to recall
as we begin to forget how is it
to think

when this happens
i will ask him, as he will be a young man by then
holding my hand
and putting me on a chair

i will ask him if he knows how to die
but i am sure he has no answers yet
he will pretend that this question is
irrelevant

he will simply perhaps ask me
if i want to sleep
and impress upon me the idea
that i am just tired.