Life’s Attrition

Another friend has gone,

and I sigh a bit more.

I can’t help but feel just

a little vulnerable, a

bit achy and heart sore.

Youth’s immortality, too,

is gone - victim of a long

ago war…swallowed up

by jungle paths and drowned

in rice paddies.

Echoes of indelible friendships

sound down the years. I

wonder, should I indulge

myself the dubious comfort

of  a few tears?

Is it possible that one day,

all I’ve have left are the

memories of those eternal

ties for comfort? Will I

be the last?

Lord knows I never wanted

to be part of a war tontine.

No, no last toasts for me...

I will keep them here, safe

within, for eternity.

© T. P. Woodfork 4/1/2005

Trang-Sup Perimeter Photo by David Honey