Linger
Linger
Old man swings his legs
old eyes pale as jelly
blue-gray water spume surge
crabs scavenge among weedy rocks
gulls laugh and cry above
where are his people
the wind carries no voices
bare hills bake in the hot sun
he looks across the sea and under it
they are hidden from him
he can taste their 2% in the strong folk
of the smoking islands
once, he adopted
the new children made up wild stories
they carved his face again and again
built and buried memorials
wore their devotion in distended bellies
passed forever into his dreams
he's alone in a world whose
lusty new folk pushed their cousins
to extinction in the long-ago time
he contemplates adopting again
he could rise up over the sea
he could live among them
rebirth his people the old-fashioned way
one child at a time
but that's too much for an old man
he stares stonily from every slope