The Old Man Is Dancing.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

a long time ago
when I was young and
so aggressive
i talk about politics
and with some able-bodied
friends, those who take
war as a form of passion
and heroism,
we dabble too in
religion and philosophy,

the arts and
humanities
seemingly are classified
as topics for the
weak and the
depressed.

Time is a great teacher
and with all the pains it
is giving,
and the disappointments of
long-standing,
the need to be alone
becomes a necessity in this
kind of personalized
affairs,

talking to diaries
and living life with
more solitudes,
what was thought of as
irrelevant now comes
as important,

talk about love,
and a tryst with all its
arts,
the art of living and loving
and
the pursuit of happiness
deep in the silence
of the woods
and the walk on the promenade
and the stroll on the
white beach sands...


a young girl is laughing,
saying "what is this old man
trying to impress? "

and then the rains come
and the old man is dancing
without minding her
at all
sheltered as she is
within the confines of
her youthful
conceit.