A Poem For An Old Man.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

i once heard of
a man who spoke to his
horse
when his wife died
during the war
when his only son
succumbed to
an unknown disease

i dismissed the story
as another
unusual imagination
of an Anton
as i was unable to
relate to
said grief

somehow as i aged
i am beginning to remember
said story which
i now think must be true
for i must tell you

i have learned how to
speak to a tree
and even to the sea
and then to
the chair in my room
beside my bed


it is not a story of
another lonely man
i am telling you
with caution for someday
you shall be another
philosopher
who will learn this trick
in order to live and
be fully alive.