Be Kind Poem by Charles Bukowski

Be Kind

Rating: 3.5


we are always asked
to understand the other person's
viewpoint
no matter how
out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.

one is asked
to view
their total error
their life-waste
with
kindliness,
especially if they are
aged.

but age is the total of
our doing.
they have aged
badly
because they have
lived
out of focus,
they have refused to
see.

not their fault?

whose fault?
mine?

I am asked to hide
my viewpoint
from them
for fear of their
fear.

age is no crime

but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life

among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives

is.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Thadious Worthington 02 December 2013

This is the judgmental nonsense that I have heard from alcoholics. They are all fearful of being judged but never pass up a chance to do the judging themselves. Who is anyone to determine that you lived out of focus or are foolish. Yuck.

71 45 Reply
Rebecca Lytle 01 May 2014

Thadious Worthington: You have lived your life out of focus and are foolish. You are also yucky. Please go away and take your teeny-bopper like angst with you, you are neither amusing nor thought-provoking. In fact, I am sure that reading your comment has actually sucked some of the thoughts out of my brain. Thank God they weren't very good ones.

22 48 Reply
like flying 24 October 2009

everything he writes is just so simply true.

39 5 Reply
Entity3sf Sam 26 May 2007

No one 'Deliberately' wastes their lives. Bukowski was a miserable sob and a half-ass writer. To the person claiming him to be the best of the late 20th century - you need to get to the library more often.

3 38 Reply
Richard Wlodarski 20 June 2017

He was a very complex individual. Not exactly a miserable sob. And most definitely, much much more than just a half-ass writer. I think if you study him a little more, you'll get a fresher perspective.

4 0
Limitless Consciousness 08 March 2021

Amazing poetic expression.

1 0 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 30 October 2020

they have aged badly because they have lived out of focus, they have refused to see. yes many refuse to see the truth. tony

1 0 Reply
Dr Antony Theodore 24 September 2020

one is asked to view their total error their life-waste with kindliness, a fine thinking. tony

0 0 Reply
Smoky Hoss 25 December 2019

I wonder if Bukowski felt that writing this poem, amongst so many others, was a crime or a waste...

0 0 Reply
David 27 August 2019

OH SHl..... This man ruthlessly lit garbage moral customs on fire 50 years ago in the name of truth and withdrawal. It’s not beautiful like a flower, it’s beautiful like cold justice.

3 0 Reply
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