The Old Men In The Darker Corner Of The Room Poem by RIC BASTASA

there were four of
us drinking beer inside
that luxurious pub
somewhere in ilo-ilo
til midnight with the
young and the vibrant
listening to the latest
jazzy songs

we choose the dark corner
where we are not that
visible lest they would
mind us, lost and strange
these old men mingling
with the wildness of the
reckless and the free

are we not free ourselves
after all those hazy years
of restraint and what we
call as decency and discipline?

we have earned much
gained honor where it is due
we have saved more that
what we can spend and show.

what we have we can no longer
keep that long
there is so much that we
cannot carry and bring
and we are here not knowing
how to spend

we are passe now.
we shall keep staying in the
darker corners of this
structures not anymore
reserved for us: strangers
and better left to the
silence of our unnecessary
caprices and whims.