If This Is All There Is

I will take it, sleeping twenty hours each day,

digestive issues too embarrassing to talk about,

Anthony the ox, an ancient memory.

I will be a weak old man for as long as I have.

I have hopes of remission, of being nearly the ox

I once was, of doing, of being, of living the life,

but whatever comes, I’ll take it.

Like the shorn and blind Sampson,

I will turn at the grist and be happy to be here.

To know my friends, my loved ones,

the days or years, no matter the pains

and weaknesses are a blessing

and I am grateful for whatever remains.