Comparative Lifestyles Poem by RIC BASTASA

you studied all your life
from a pile of books you consume your eyes
there are other leftovers of sight
but you spent them for the arts
until you get blinded by all these sorts of verbosity
lost and since then was never found
they lighted candles and offered prayers
for you disappearance
and then after a month or so
or let us say a year
but that would be quite a long time
for someone
who had become one of those
forgotten

someone in the neighborhood
weaves mats
fish in the river for food
isolated
whistles his way on evenings
on a tryst with his newly found
lover
worships feelings and follows
the intricacies of desire
he lives here with the rest
of the contented souls
peacefully
and untouched by the sophistication
of words
happily watching the stars
as his hands caress
the hair of the woman he loves....