Settling Into Infinity Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

Saul trudged into Meng’s
and ordered rice and beans
while Irving asked Anna for coffee saying,
“Can you please fill it up.
I’m a poor old man.”
“Already fill up. No more, ” said Anna.
Of course that was true
but what he wanted
and what I pointed out to her
was that he wanted
the coffee to spill over into the saucer
and then she did it.
So Irving sat next to Saul,
inhaled the pungent coffee aroma,
then sipped a bit and said, “That’s the life.”
“I don’t want to hear about it, ” said Saul,
“I’m just waiting to die.”
Irving tried to cheer him up saying,
“It’s not bad as all that.”
“Three months in the hospital
a hundred tests, no good
not a single one
rotten inside, top to bottom
You think my daughter came once to visit?
No, and two months I got left
no more
the doctors wanna send me to a spot
to croak but I’m gonna stay in my own place
there I know
there I finish this off.”
Irving sipped his coffee in silence then
looked at Anna for a possible free refill,
depending on her mood.
Today Irving was in luck
as she shuffled to his table
and poured until the saucer
itself
was flooded.