You don’t seem to understand, old man,
I’m not gonna die, not today,
Not tomorrow, not ever.
But you just don’t get it.
I’m strong, I’m fierce,
And I take care you hear me?
I take care of my business
You understand?
And I don’t know no one who’s died
‘Cept by accident or in a fight
And I’m smarter than that,
‘Way smarter.
You, though, you, old man,
You’re weak, and—look, you’re trembling:
I could kill you right now with my bare hands,
You understand?
You’re gonna die, you can count on that.
It’s just too bad you won’t be around
To see I’m right.
The strong robust voice of Ernesto. This reads as if excerpted from a play. SAS
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Gary, I like this very much. There is something of Bukowski in it, but I firmly believe that whilst Charlie wasn’t up to writing poetry, those that followed on from him made a good job of it. I like the narration in this I think that the comment below does make a point but that isn’t to appear negative (which I don’t take the reader below to be) . Poems sometimes work when they appear to be a part of something bigger. I think what you have here is a sort of soliloquy where the voice only appears to be directing itself to someone, but the fact that there isn’t another voice in the poem suggests that the narrator is alone. A great poem with a superb title, I might add.