Vainglories Of The Past Poem by P K Joy

I live in the worst kind of poverty and contempt.
But the boasts about my past glories keep me quite content.
My starving children daily hear the list of delicious food
I used to eat day and night in my rich past childhood.
To my unfed wife with no means to have a change of garments
Daily I’d talk about my mother’s clothes and ornaments.
To the young men who gather at the cross-roads I’d boast
Of my younger years’ exploits when my body was robust.

I close my day only when I hear from someone’s mouth
This candid question I can’t answer and therefore I do loathe:
“While boasting of the glorious past aren’t you now starving?
Why not do some manual work and earn a frugal living? ”