Old Man Poet

Poetry and poverty go together, the saying goes; this poem explores this bleak idea. The narrative is set in an ancient Chinese context.

Old Man Poet
you’ve grown a rich self
while your body grows weary
and your vision fades;
all your friends
Old Man Poet
have hoarded silver and gold
and all you’ve done
is to sing and grow old

you’ve not accumulated
and you’ve not gathered
though the dust gathers on
your scroll of poems;
your songs are stolen and sung even now
in distant villages
but passed on in new names
Ah, Old Man Poet
you’ve discovered too late
and don’t care though
nobody pays for poetry
and nobody reads such stuff
unless it’s flattery and free;
and though your songs may live
after you die
and they might sing it over your grave
and though villagers may sing it
as they sow and reap
it will all go in the wind
anonymous and unknown
all that when you die, when you die,
Old Man Poet, Old Man Poet -
but now, just days more
when you are frail
who will feed you, who will take care of you,
Old Man Poet, Old Man Poet?

ah, Old Man Poet
your neighbors call you useless;
your friends ask you if you need handouts
and your wife mocks you
and your children pour scorn in your empty bowls
and still you sing your songs
and you sit in marketplace corners
and you sing with your er-hu
and still you sing of sunsets and sunrise
and the rise of empires and the end of loves -
but who will feed you, Old Man Poet?
what will you do when
they put you in a corner when you’re too weak
and there’s no one to wipe the piss off your pants?

Old Man Poet
you’ve grown a rich self
while your body grows weary
and your vision fades;
all your friends
Old Man Poet
have hoarded silver and gold
and all you’ve done
is to sing and grow old