December 2017
Robin Helweg-Larsen
robinhelweglarsen@gmail.com
robinhelweglarsen@gmail.com
I am British-born but Bahamian-raised. My education came from good schools, hitchhiking on five continents and working all over the place. My poetry has mostly been published in the UK (Snakeskin, Ambit, etc), but also in the US (The HyperTexts, etc), Canada, Australia and India. I live in my hometown of Governor's Harbour on Eleuthera.
TO MYSELF, IN 50 YEARS TIME
Old fool! You really think yourself the same
As I who write to you, aged 22?
Ha! All we’ve got in common is my name:
I’ll wear it out, throw it away,
You’ll pick it up some other day....
But who are you?
My life’s before me; can you say the same?
I choose its how and why and when and who.
I’ll choose the rules by which we play the game;
I may choose wrong, it’s not denied,
But by my choice you must abide....
What choice have you?
If, bored, I think one day to see the world
I pack that day and fly out on the next.
My choice to wander, or to sit home-curled;
Each place has friends, good fun, good food,
But you sit toothless, silent, rude....
And undersexed!
Cares and regrets of loss can go to hell:
You sort them out with Reason’s time-worn tool.
Today’s superb; tomorrow looks as well:
The word “tomorrow” is a thrill,
I’ll make of mine just what I will....
What’s yours, old fool?
"To Myself, in Fifty Years Time" was first published in Snakeskin (September, 2008).
©2017 Robin Helweg-Larsen
©2017 Robin Helweg-Larsen
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