The Theater Is Still There. Poem by RIC BASTASA

manuel has been
busy all the while
preaching about
how this world
shall end soon

i wonder how he still
copes up with daily living
somewhere in
uptown chicago taking care
of the old people
for a fee

i remember those sunrises
and sunsets in the philippines
when we studied in one of
those religious universities
getting honors for ourselves
until we parted ways

i go for the world and gets
flexible with its ways
while manuel retreated to
the tenets of religion

i guess the world does not
end. My wife says it is we
that end. Curtains fall.
The actors are out. The
stage remains.

The theater is still there.
As the city lights flicker
deep in the nights
where people walk and talk
not so conscious of their
endings.