Monday's Poem: Be Kind

I've been thinking about which poem I should select for today, and then my dear friend in Washington informed me that today is poet Charles Bukowski's birthday - so of course I have to pick a Bukowski poem. Bukowski died of leukemia in 1994 and would have been 90 today. Read more here.

Be Kind

we are always asked
to understand the other person’s
viewpoint
no matter how
out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.one is asked
to view
their total error
their life-waste
with
kindliness,
especially if they are
aged.

but age is the total of
our doing.
they have aged
badly
because they have
lived
out of focus,
they have refused to
see.

not their fault?

whose fault?
mine?

I am asked to hide
my viewpoint
from them
for fear of their
fear.

age is no crime

but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life

among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives

is.