My Beard

 

I live in a place and time in life

where I can let my full beard grow.

No one cares, and no one but my

children know.

And they only visit me every two

weeks or so.

It’s a white beard. I passed Santa

Clause in length quite some time ago.

It dangles wildly way past my Adam's

apple, covers my neck entirely.

I’d say it is where an inveterate homeless

man’s beard would be should he have,

against all odds, lived long past his time.

My beard has outgrown me, having gone

way past its prime and mine.

                      -30-

Chris Hanch 8-20-2020