To The Turle Who Shall Live For A Hundred Years Poem by RIC BASTASA

It is true
i am at loss
if age be the gauge
for you can live
for a hundred or more years
while i can only
have less

it is true
you are slow and patient
and persistent
and silent
and in fact you have defeated
the rabbit
in that classic race

but if i were to carry my own house
at my back
and anywhere i go i have to hide my head
against a war
for my sure survival
and if in these struggles i simply have to be silent
and meek for another hundred years
just to live

forgive me Turtle, but i must tell
that
i'd rather be myself still- - -

a man, vulnerable in love and war
still in my humanity
at par.