It's too late to die young.

Laila Shawa, Palestine

The old lamp is bright

Cutting through the darkness

And I have lit the incense

I prepared a simple meal

All awaits your arrival

The early evening passes by

Slowly

Like an old man on the highway

But no knock comes to the door

And the old man on the highway

Is me

__________

The mid-day rainstorm fed the trees and the garden

The afternoon sun broke through and fed my heart

__________

Eight years old   

I was sleeping on a roll-away bed 

At my grandparents’ house

My father gone who knows where

I used to pray for Jesus to take me in the night

That I would fall asleep and not wake up

Not ever

But no Jesus no answer 

Time passed as it does 

I lived a life like anyone else 

Some sorrow  some joy

And now I am in my sixties

It’s too late to die young

Looking in the mirror 

I see my Uncle Earl looking back at me 

Oh well, I always liked Earl

He used to call me partner

With that Texas accent of his

James Lee Jobe

The Rolling Stones, I'm Just Your Fool
(Little Walter cover) 

LINK: Armageddon, a poem by Taije Silverman

__________

Happiness means feeling you are on the right path every moment. You don't need to arrive at the end of the path in order to be happy.

Thich Nhat Hanh

__________

You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.

Abbie Hoffman

Laila Shawa, Palestine

Thanks for reading today's post here at the poetry zendo. You might consider supporting this blog with a small donation through the Buy Me A Coffee link just below.

Thanks, James