Thursday, June 21, 2018

No Guarantees


It’s bound to happen, you know,
I tell myself. Day after day, I sit
around waiting for things to break.
The other day there was the drip,
drip of the plumbing, then the

torrential flow of a ruptured water
pipe in the crawl space below. A
hell of a mess made at 10 PM on
a Sunday with no maintenance to
be found. I consider the coffee

maker more than 10-years old
gurgling away in the kitchen.
How many more cups will it
yield before it gives way and
surrenders to the strain? In my

chest, I feel the heartbeat and
know each pump is one fewer, one
closer to the end of days. Time, my
friends, is not on our side. Granite
mountains crumble stone by stone

under the stress of their own weight.
The best movies, the grandest of
symphonies must arrive inevitably
at an end. The replay button can be
applied only so many times before

even the best of times grow old. I see
the batteries I’ve recently replaced
in my remote are guaranteed for ten
years. In my seventies now, and given
that I’ve not taken the best care of

myself, I figure those Duracell's will
certainly outlast me. Cripes’ sake, man,
I’m expendable, not that money-making
drum-beating, Energizer Bunny advertised
on TV.

Chris Hanch 6-21-18

No comments:

Post a Comment