Nine Lives
written by: Roy Eisenstein
@eyezenmedia
they say cats have nine lives
yeah maybe
until they meet up with Buick on some side street
seems to speed up the mathematics of it
poof
gone
done
kaput
cat no more
us human beings
you know you’ve seen ‘em
you’ve loved and hated ‘em
you
well, you and me
we are them
anyway
we don’t get nine lives
we get one that we know of for sure
and it’s a beaut
oh yeah
one hell of a bumpy ride
I’d say
some folks get to mess up in their lives
and get a second chance before they die
a second shot at it
a do over
but for some of us
the first time around feels more like
a last chance
you know
the last dance
only sometimes the music isn’t right
the tempo is off
we’re off
something’s just
off
I mean we go through the motions
collect a lot of stuff
yeah
stuff
cram our lives full of the STUFF
like human junk drawers
come on,
everyone has a junk drawer
somewhere in their home
a place to put all the loose ends
one shoe lace
a button
a menu from a take out joint
a pair of pliers
bolts missing their nuts
we’re just like that
only it’s thoughts
people
conversations
unfinished arguments
all the ‘should’ve saids’
ex lovers
wives
husbands
bosses
that’s our stuff
so we’re burdened with all this stuff
we make an awkward stumble of it
dragging around all this baggage
luggage
hell
steamer trunks full of hangups
insecurities
self deceptions
emotional pack mules
making that one last haul
and so we stagger over the finish line
exhausted
like drunken meat wagons
spent
used up
but even then we hate leaving the field
we don’t want to go
no way
but a cat
they say
has nine lives
but we
us humans
you and me
we get only one
but it’s a beaut
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
We have to become aware of the fantastic assessment of what it means to be alive
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