June 2024
Bio Note: I was born in Worcester, Mass., and my first published poem (second grade) was on the local newspaper's Letters to the Editor page, championing a proposed zoo. My theater career brought me to New York City and culminated in a nonfiction book Playing the Audience, which won a Choice award. A returning contributor to Verse-Virtual, I have lately been serving as host for the Hell's Kitchen International Writers at my library branch in Manhattan: walk-ins are always welcome.
A Single Life
I knew a man who didn’t laugh.
Another never cried.
They knew a third who did not dream,
a fourth who never lied.
A fifth was all of the above.
A sixth was never late.
A seventh saved himself from love;
an eighth, in turn, from hate.
A ninth who, in his waning years,
sufficed, but did not share.
A tenth, declining hopes and fears,
declared he did not care.
Good people all, dependable
as dogs and disciplined
as soldiers. When temptation led
they never strayed or sinned.
Nor was it due to lack of living
that they led this life,
but from Experience, unforgiving
as a fickle wife.
No friend’s been truer than they’ve been,
nor talent more acute;
no person has indulged less sin;
no soul, earned less repute.
They died before they laughed, alone
and free, and free of blame.
Now they share a single stone
with a single name.
Originally published in Calliope (Mensa), 2023
©2024 James B. Nicola
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