ALONE

He sleeps alone in his lounging chair,

Feet level to improve his circulation,

Eyes blink now and then.

      A young man dances the street,

      Eyes the ladies and smiles with his own teeth.

The clouded eyes blink again.

      She worries over diapers and food,

      Or whether there's enough milk in the house.

      She worries about coal scuttled

       Into the basement for winter heat.

A smile crosses his sleeping lips.

      Children gone, his life begins anew.

      They have been separated so long --

       He at work - she at work - nothing connects

       Except familiarity of knowing that each knows.

A shift of shoulders beneath the afghan

Warming old cold shoulders.

Alone after peering into the abyss

Out of which she will not return.

Alone with himself, the wish he always had.

The wish granted brought its gift

Of emptiness with no gravity.

The best he can say about old age

Is that it ends.