How My Cousin Wished To Have A White Friend, The American Poem by RIC BASTASA

my cousin had once a wish, to befriend an american
the white great man who once fought with his grandfather
during the last 2nd world war
in Bataan
they were together in their defeat
on that Long Black Death March

and they miraculously survived
and during their veterans' memory programs
they always have time together
little drinks, nostalgic conversations and then a hug a farewell
matching tears and trembling lips
of old useless men

but that was long time ago
times i guess have changed due to climactic errors
global warming
and well
crude, rude, city life that changed gentleness to
aloofness,
and when my cousin worked as a nurse in chicago
lonely as he was, and so alienated and yes
discriminated
he changed his views of the white man
no longer that christ-the-saviour thing really
but that 'get lost' monster that throws him glasses on his head
and if it were not for his escaping instincts he would have been dead
on arrival in the Philippines,

well, i cannot blame him, indeed the times have changed,
whites hate browns and looks down on them,
the browns too, retaliate and sometimes wish to poison the white man
and kill him on his bed with an overdose of his antidepressant drugs

or simply leave the white man with his own business as he falls
to the floor from his bed, with no one to help him, and i remember what my cousin said,
he is the brown man telling the white man

' white man, summon all your green money to help you stand,
i am leaving! '

he left, really, he left the old man asking for his help,
less the curse and the insult


actualy, i like how that story ended.