RED HEARTS AND WATERMELON RINDS: Riding the Metro to Vinna

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Glenn Logan
Member

since 2001-10-10

Posts 111
Virginia

0 posted 2001-12-06 03:59 PM

                 The young worry me, while the old,
                 particularly myself, frighten me even more.

                 "This is Metro Center, your cross point for
                 the Red, Orange, and Blue Lines.
                 Transfer here to Red Line trains
                 in the directions of Shady Grove or Glenmont.
                 Thank you for Riding Metro!"

                 With my heart pumping a bit too noticeably
                 to feel at ease,
                 I no longer see much distance between
                 health and ill health,
                 strong and weak,
                 middle-aged and very aged -
                 and I see very little distance
                 between here today and gone away.

                 "Farragut West. Next station, Foggy Bottom."

                 I feel time running a littler breathlessly,
                 and my slipshod heart
                 is acting
                 like it wants to slip away.
                 Where is it going in such a rush?

                 "Foggy Bottom - George Washington University"

                 I can't seem to keep awake - keep dozing off. Am I
                 on the right line? Is this the Orange or Blue Line?
                 - I should have looked before getting on.

                 Can't seem to stay awake.

                 "Ballston! Next station: East Falls Church!"

                 Dozed off! At least it's the right line: four stops
                 to go before the old ticker goes too:

                 East Falls Church . . . West Falls Church . . .
                 Dunn Loring . . . , then Vienna.

                 "Orange Line to Vienna! East Falls Church!
                 Next station: West Falls Church"

                 It's going a little fast, but maybe I'll last.

                 "West Falls Church. Next stop: Dunn Loring"

                 Again, damn it! Just great! If I don't make it
                 to Vienna, just bury me out on the lone prairie,
                 somewhere west of Dunn Loring!

                 Or will they just burn me to ash,
                 and set me out with next Monday's trash?

                 Yes, will they mourn me sadly like some Latins do,
                 or, like good Irish, use my passing
                 as a fine excuse for a excellent bash?

                 I wish I could be there, to see how long it would last!

                 And if, improbable as it might seem, if somehow,
                 I don't know how, I got into someone's bright idea
                 of Heaven, would it be my kind of place?

                 Would I be greeted, as I'd greatly prefer,
                 by shapely ladies dressed in black lace?
                 Or would everyone dress in long, white togas
                 uncomfortably starched?

                 Could I eat freshly baked bread and dine with old wine,
                 and enjoy honey-baked chicken with fresh basil & thyme?

                 Or would they make me quite sick,
                 as I suspect they
                 well might, by playing their damn harp music
                 every damn night,
                 and would they make me doubly ill
                 by making me prance "merrily" around town
                 in some stupid white gown,
                 singing praises of Jesus and Moses?

                 No, sister, no: spare me that blow!
                 The only Heaven I've ever wanted to know
                 has been right down here on earth!

                 Yet if my best days are now over, as people all say,
                 what will my worst days now bring?

                 Will I still go to parties with wine and cheeses?
                 Or dine alone, outside, bundled against cold breezes?

                 Will I linger at fast-food restaurants just to be near
                 a free john? Will I find a place to shave or to bathe?

                 In winter, will I frequent hospital emergency rooms
                 seeking to get away from the cold?

                 Will I search supermarket dumpsters
                 seeking fresh fruit a week or two old?

                 And will I finally learn to feast on whatever I find,
                 to eat others' unfinished Big Macs left behind
                 in discarded white paper sacks,
                 and will I learn to suck up appreciatively
                 the sugar-sweet juice of discarded watermelon rinds?

                 I suppose I'll learn, given time.

                 "Vienna station, end of the line! Please take all
                 your newspapers and personal belongings with you.
                 Have a good day, and thank you for riding Metro!"

                 Since I can't get to Heaven - and wouldn't go
                 if I could -
                 let me try to be happy on earth;
                 I'll try to be content, even when it's Lent,
                 and I'll try to go on, even old and bent.

                 But right now it's time for me to get off the train;
                 It's the end of the line: Vienna.
                 Copyright 2001 Glenn Logan

                 NOTE: With a triple bypass, I survived this (two years ago), and feel
                 like I have a much-appreciated second life. More of my poems can be
                 found at:
                 http://www.geocities.com/glennlogan/index.html
                 http://www.poetrypages/pages/glennlogan
                 http://mywebpage.netscape.com/gloganpoet/gloganpoet.html

EagleScorpion
Senior Member

since 2000-03-08

Posts 1644
Here, Now, Forever

1 posted 2001-12-06 04:47 PM

hmm this is a heart-wrenching story! (literally! nyuk nyuk nyuk!) Death shouldnt be seen as such a horrible thing.. i mean really!

rebekah33
Member

since 2001-12-13

Posts 140
MD/NJ

2 posted 2001-12-13 01:15 PM

The title caught my attention, I'm glad i took the time to read. The whole Metro announcements running throughout was a wonderful touch, reading the poem became riding on the Metro (if that makes sense).
-R.

Startime
Member Ascendant

since 2000-10-03

Posts 5918
Canada

3 posted 2001-12-13 01:32 PM

*sigh* this touched my heart deeply. Your words go right to the soul when the vision comes to life. Well put. **hugs**

Love I leave with you whether it is in your life now or yet the essense of your dreams.

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