The Sand Hill Review          http://www.sandhillreview.org    2004

 

What Uncle Bob Said

 

Haven’t picked the date yet but when you

get this I’ll be gone.

 

Several reasons.  You know some,

others know a few, I know them all.

Aside from the poverty, health

is going fast - liver, lungs, mind.

You name it.

 

Look at it my way, here at the end.

Go along with luck and a human lives.

Comes age, if they last, illness, pain,

loss of mind, unknown in an uncaring world.

Not for me.

 

Never could believe that anyone loved me.

Never could love much because it was

foreign and bad, thought I was worthless

and such.  Married the first time because

she insisted, never could figure out why.

I do know where I got the clap.  Married

again for no good reason.  She wasn’t well,

neither was I.

 

Always broke.  Wrote some stuff.  Took

some pictures.  Made some figures, mostly

wood.  I think what horrifies me most is that

I was about average. 

 

Been charming.  Don’t weep.

If you want to do something, forgive a stupidity,

even though your pride objects shrieking.

Doesn’t cost much, hardly at all.

 

Robert Hoppensteadt