On an Early Oath

            [/v/vv/    /vv/v/    &    /v/vv/v    /v/vv/v/]

Through the last 40 years my solace has become
That I haven’t found home just anyplace I’ve lived;
Curing harms reasonless, wounds that refused to bleed
All have grown flowers since, roses of memory.
    Was I unsatisfied once? Could not blame anyone but me.

Forward, sociable youth: I was no different then.
We would take to the streets, letting as banners float
Greasy strand, smoky wisp, comrade Asclepiad
Handing out bantam tracts glowing with no demand –
    Life was not much and still was more than we had the right to
___________________________________________expect.

Come hermitical age: Who should be different, then?
Licking wounds seasonless, harms that ungainly scarred
Cig reek and hoary filth, comrade Asclepiad
Having lost umpteen teeth, mumbling with no command:
    Are we unsatisfied now? Less than life had the time to enact.
 
March 4, 2019