I dare not speak

 

I am catapulted into another time and place

A shanty town in Latin America where I spend my remaining time

I am old now, robust yet frail with years that drain me

I live in a street of chabolistas, amongst the poor

I subsist on renumerated pensions

and drink my time away

I smoke a pipe and feel the sway

An Indian neighbour proffers me her teenage daughter

I refuse and peer into the interior dark of their home

Where I see a man, naked and towelling his hairy body 

dry from a recent shower.

I feel the need for him in my loins but to no avail

another shot of Brandy perhaps

An insatiable need to be never fulfilled

So this is the summation of life's desire?

The desireable but unavailable

I am crushed in an inner despair

I was wrought from nought to nought

disfigured to die adrift

Such is my lot