ALL TOO HUMAN

My ass is parked
outside Rusk,
on a bench,
cane in hand,
waiting
to begin
rehab. You see
my heart
is broken
from self-love
& other
obsessions.
But I've not given up
& so believe
I can regain
my abilities
(& desireabilty)
to hurt myself
(& others) again
one day
soon.

We're born
into this:
Addiction, Anorexia, Bulimia, Cancer,
Diddling, Drunkeness, Frigidity, and all
the other A B C's of youth, childhood rearing
and wonderment.
But this
is what awaits:
age & sickness
of indeterminate stays.

And so I watch
as life
in all its
fragility
march past
into the mouth
of medicine.
And I wonder:
do fleas
ever lose
their hardon
or Queen bees come down
with vaginal prolapse?
Are ants beset
by Alzheimers
or roadrunners arythmias?
Do lions go deaf
from roaring
or elephants
break hips from falls?
Do swans seek facelifts?

Past our prime
we all cling to failure
while little children
the world over
never notice the fissures
in the frozen lakes
and lace up their skates
anticipating an afternoon
of fun & fancy.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2018