Though I Am Still Alive Poem by Robert Rorabeck

When we stole into the Fountain of Youth
She didn’t wear any panties.
As she climbed the wall
In the shadow of the concrete cross,
I saw her own shadow,
And it had only been with one man.
Later, she found out that she loved women,
But that night we were alone,
Young thieves in amnesia
Who wanted to live for ever.
It was so early, there were no tourists,
But the fountain’s water tasted like
Rotten eggs. Afterwards,
We were hungry in the misplaced graveyard
Where the Catholic Spaniards
Rested perpetually alongside the natives
And the stalwart fort that looked
Anxiously across the sea
Where the waves were repeating in cavalry
The caesuras where mermaids bathe.
And looking at her hair
Whipping atop the parapets,
I thought there should be fireworks
With children and veterans on parade in sunshine,
But it has been so long,
And now the college in the oldest city
Is full of dead girls
Though I am still alive.