Here is what's going to happen
You come into this world unclad
At risk and small and softheaded
But not alone
Not as a twin
You're stark naked but with someone
A DNA identical
Right there in the womb for nine months
Feeding off the same placenta
This is what's going to happen
You grow up and old together
Brashly cute and codependent
But not solo
Not on your own
You're well-dressed but in deep water
Clones of modus operandi
Right here for sixty-five plus years
Heading to the same old brick wall
There will be no indelible headstones for us
For the likes of us as our father used to say
Our Asian wives will have our bodies burned
Then scatter the ashes to send us on our way
I'll ask my wife to pour me into the sea
Perhaps your wife will plant you in the yard
Our dusty atoms tossed with no trace
Hats off to the twin who plays the last card
I'm running low on granddad fuel
An old man ready for his nap
The checkered flag is in the air
And soon I'll take my final lap
I'm flying slow on empty fumes
A geezer falling from the sky
The catastrophic impact zone
A life that left me high and dry
These poems are measures of our bond
A link steadfast as tungsten darts
Our back and forth reminding me
How much I love the rhyming parts
It's nice to know our ties are strong
A knot untwined by selfsame hearts
Our poetry fulfilling me
Especially the rhyming parts
I'm mortified again you see
To think you might be mad at me
I do not want to hurt the lamb
Who bleeds as silent as the clam
I'm mortified I hope you know
To think I dealt another blow
I do not want to make you sore
I do not want this anymore
I'm mortified and must confess
I am the one who made this mess
I do not want to be an ass
But please give me another pass
What would Arthur Miller say
With his last remaining breath
Did he really comprehend
The bewilderment of death
What would William Shakespeare write
With his final feathered quill
Did he meet his end with grace
Thus devour the bitter pill
What would all the authors say
With both feet now in the grave
Did they truly understand
Life's a thing no one can save
Yeah, won't be too much longer now
But we had our fun in the sun
The ocean combers letting up
The hang loose riding all but done
Yeah, the sets are nearly finished
But we carved some curls in our lives
The frothiest waves and wipes outs
The gnarliest surfer high-fives
Yeah, almost time to pack it in
But we sure had more than our share
The roller coaster clacking back
The sun going down like a flare
I don't know what gets into me
It comes from someplace deep inside
A fiend that rears its ugly head
Like Doctor Jekyll's Mr. Hyde
I don't know why it lives in me
It does not pussyfoot around
Perhaps I learned it from my Dad
A man who wrestled with the hound
I don't know how or when or why
It seems to be a rooted curse
A foible I must ride herd on
And bear for better and for worse
Some fairy tales do not come true
For evilness is hard to beat
The specious smiles of wickedness
So spurious and sickly sweet
And yet some fairy stories last
For humankind is sorely flawed
The greed of human heartlessness
A villainous and vicious fraud
Some fairy tales are here to stay
For goodness is a timeless tale
The crimes of immorality
Badness that goes beyond the pale
And still some fairy stories teach
For honor is a living thing
The human heart a place of love
Kindness its true and rightful king
The dead don't know they lived
They do not know they came
There are no souls on high
And none consumed by flame
The dead don't know they died
They do not know they left
There are no hopes or dreams
For mortals laid to rest
The dead don't know they were
They do not know they passed
There are no promised lands
And nothing ever lasts
