of life and death

knowing something of life and death,
i sat with 20 men,
being just one of the small guys
on an tall bar stool
hoping for a summer of love,
aware that my youth died with the early spring.

i caught a whiff of their fragrant lies
between sips of the darkest beer.

then, playing fast, i watched a slow game of pool,
heard several languages,
and recognized one of them
(having traveled in my earlier days).

a sullen man sat down his hoppy beer
and left quietly through an exit door.

perhaps he had heard everything he needed,
yet was still in need of adventure
and looking for something more,
a double shot of excitement, say,
where mysteries filled the rear parking lot,
he danced on the hoods of cars
and flung himself into outer space

without even leaving the earth.

there was a drunken sailor heading home
with garlic on his breath and tattoos on both arms.

the navy man stopped at his dented car hood and looked on in amazement.

he watched the sullen man dance,
elevate, then enter heaven overhead
without a care for what he was leaving.