Tomorrow

Two different but similar poems today. I must admit that I prefer the second one, which is #MastoPrompt length.

Where has this fear come from in my later years?
This fear of death, of illness, of loss?

All of us, then, when we were young,
Created our own immortality by insisting
That tomorrow never comes.

But “tomorrow never comes” is just sophistry.
Tomorrow always comes.
That is the human condition,
The inevitability of toothache, taxes, and death.

My old therapist would say
I’ve always been afraid, because
I was abandoned by bad parents
And fickle girlfriends, that I was
Always alone. But this fear is new.

The mirror tells me it’s rooted in
Those multiple personalities and worlds
My writing have created, those impossible
Scenarios my heroes and anti-heroes
Work their way through in search
Of a happy ending that will never come.

R 20/10/2023 18:12

In those days, we cheated
Our way into immortality
By saying tomorrow never
Comes.

We were afraid of nothing.

Those words are just sophistry.
Tomorrow always comes.
That is the human condition;
The inevitability of toothache,
Taxes, and death.

We can cheat no more,
Afraid of everything.

The mirror tells me the fear
Is rooted in those impossible
Scenarios my heroes and antiheroes
Work their way through in search
Of a happy ending that will never come.

R 20/10/2023 18:53

Miserable walk in a cagool that’s no longer waterproof through cataclysmic weather, the climate crisis baring its teeth. And it’s not even that bad here in Norwich. There is an inevitability, too, about how we’ve already destroyed the planet. A cosy weekend, hopefully ahead for those who are as fortunate as we are.