The Best Lines Must Not End In Suicide...A Wish Poem by RIC BASTASA

those ahead of us
devotees of the craft have arrived at the
conclusion that the best lines
must end in a suicide,

those that remained have always prayed for them
and for all of us
still in this usual everyday

of struggle, we wish we pray
keep us away from the best lines

give us the wisdom of the divine verses
the freshness of life

the helplessness of the baby
waking up and then crying for help

always wanting of affection
our poems must yield to the pink cheeks of youth