*****
He was a friend of my new friend
Who wished to stop one morning by
To introduce to me this man
The apple of his awestruck eye
And so we traveled down together
To an old brick building where
I got to meet an gentleman
Who’d traveled just ’bout everywhere
For in his salad days he’d been
The builder of a whirlwind car
Faster than any other one
Upon the racetrack’s risky tar
Oh, he had pictures of himself
From fifty years and more ago
When you could not have ever hoped
A hepper cat to get to know
In photographs now growing dim
Posed by his famous speedy car
With trophies damn near tall as him
Beautiful girls from near and far
And champaign going everywhere
Fashionable highbrow bottles from —
It such a somber study was
To see with time what he’d become
Who now owned just the one garage
He was reduced to living in
With dust and dirt and spiderwebs
No mop or rag could e’en begin
Restoring to their early splendor
Rusting hulks from shadows peek
The man bore no resemblance
Himself to at his younger peak
And even this last sole garage
They said would soon be taken, for
He hadn’t paid outstanding tax
For two or three years therebefore
I wondered what would happen when
They took that last building away
Would he and his old clippings then
Have any place together stay
Or he come to the final grief
Of losing even treasured these
His last and only sweet relief
From encroaching indemnities?
And meditated to myself
How painful but how true it be
That classic Latin epigram:
“Sic transit gloria mundi”
*****
The poet/editor of this website is physically disabled, and lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level. Contributions may be made at:https://www.gofundme.com/are-you-a-patron-of-the-arts
