Famous Poets

Perhaps

The vet said, “Are you sure?”
And Glo said yes
But I was looking at the old girl
Walking around our feet, unknowing
And I said let’s take her home again
And see
But Glo said it’s too much of a mess.
Kind Glo who had brought Lady home
Many years ago and loved her
So we lifted the poor thing up
To the table
And she lay there, tail slapping
And I watched the needle go in
And the poor thing’s movements
Stopped almost immediately
And all I could think of
Was
Why not for human suffering
Perhaps me some day?

A Fish Story

About Lying

My mother used to say it
When I was growing up
But I never really understood it
Until I was, say, about thirteen
Or so.
And what she used to say was
“I hate liars,
A liar and a thief are the same.”
Like I say, it sounded good
Though I didn’t really understand it
For years,
That a liar and a thief are the same
Because they both steal something from you.
How true, and I try to live it
Even though it puts me
At a disadvantage.

THE REUNION

He’s back with family,
Mother, father, sister.
The silence of the meeting
And then what we can only
Imagine.
Do they touch?
Do they kiss?
Do they talk?
But do they even remember who they were
Or what they are?
Is she still his mother
And the father with all the jokes
Can he still tell them?
And his sister, she’d had such pain
Is she smiling again?
But do they even know that I am
Here?
I leave a stone in case they do

The Reunion  © Seymour Shubin 2012

The Bet
by Seymour Shubin

I guarantee you, he said
At the end of his mother’s funeral,
That the dead will meet,
That they will look in full health
To each other,
Just as they were.
Oh yeah, I thought , and where
Do I collect if you are wrong?
But that was then and this is now
And oh how I miss her
And how I want to give
His money back.

Originally Publihed as The Bet Poem