T.K.O. Life in Forty 

the dark dark waters of the lake

that look so cold

lie, lightly furrowed under lowering clouds

below pine-shaggy hills

Don't dive. Don't even think it.

Stay as you are.

Mostly now I listen.

I'm forty-one.

My kids tell me about life.

My wife has left.

Do people learn?

I ... nations ... any one sad sapient soul

Look.

Me. People passing in the street.

History. Science. Philosophy.

The Eternal Sea of Strife called "Daily Life".

Femininism.

Deconstruction.

HAH!!

Mostly now I listen.

The water looks so cold.

I'm forty-one.