A LIFE OF ERRANDS

If You Are Lucky

You Will Grow Old

And Live

A Life Of Errands.

You Will Discern

What People Need

And Provide It

Before They Ask.

You Will Drive Your Car

Here And There

Delivering And Fetching

And Neither The Traffic

Nor The Weather

Will Bother You

In The Least.

You Will Whip Down

The 405

To San Diego

To Pick Up An Acorn

For Someone's Proverb

And So On And So Forth.

In Spite Of The Ache

In Your Heart

About The Girl You

Never Found

And The Fact That

After Years Of

Spiritual Rigour

You Did Not Manage

To Enlighten Yourself

A Certain Cheerfulness

Will Begin To

Arise Out Of Your Crushed

Hopes And Intentions.

How Thirstily

You Embrace Your

Next Commission:

To Sift Through

The Sunglasses

At A Lost And Found

In Las Vegas

Just A Few Hours

Across The Desert.

Your Hair Is White

You Have Breasts

And A Gut

Over Your Belt

You Are No Longer A Boy,

Or Even A Man

But A Sense Of Gratitude

Enlivens Every Move

You Make.

Yes, Sir, These Are The

Very Gold-Rimmed Pair

She Left In The Plastic Tray

Beside The Dollar

Slot Machines.

No, Sir, I Am Not Lying.