Crazier And Crazier Poem by Shalom Freedman

As I grow older and older
I grow lonelier and lonelier
and crazier and crazier
I recite the memorized poems of a lifetime
Into the silent distance
I rage my own sad lines into the empty night
I play a dialogue of different voices in a game of ridicule and mirth
I sing the old loved standard songs in jazzlike versions

Until suddenly momentarily sane
Sensing passerbys
I grow silent

And wait until alone again
I hear with pleasured anguish my melodies
And wonder why no one bothers to hear
Or ever care to know
The richnesses in me
And the joy my voice
Could give them.