What is this noose

hanging around my neck

like a loud necktie?

No worries, it is merely

old age,

a common enough affliction

affecting 10 out of 10 Americans.

The ancient religious writers

loved to ramble on

about the body’s impermanence:

“dust to dust”

and the whole nine yards.

What a gloomy bunch!

Once while living in the city,

I passed a large gathering

in a public square

where masses of pink and black

balloons were being released.

Someone in the crowd said that

a circus performer had passed away,

and this was his

intended celebration.

The ancient Taoists had

the right idea.

They knew enough

to laugh and

shrug the whole damn thing off,

fear and dread

floating away

like a black balloon, a tiny speck

in the widening deep blue sky.