abrupt drops

 on edge

circumstance, and age, conspire to have me on edge,

I trace it all back to 1962,

when one day I had a father

and the next day he was gone,

that same decade assassinations abruptly

took away hero after hero of mine:

JFK, MLK, RFK,

plus Malcolm X, who I've added to my hero collection,

now I'm 77,  past 3 score and 10,

and susceptible to glitches in my health,

add to that the election of a President

who works hard to lead us back 

into economic and cultural disaster,

I can be fine, feel fine,

and then abruptly drop into despair,

I topple off the emotional edge

and tears sob through me,

I feel for my wife

whose heart is even bigger than mine,

and yet who knows better than I

how to "buck up" and endure,

I hate to pull her closer to the edge

that calls to us all who care,

we age toward an indefinite future.

by Henry H. Walker

July 3, ‘25