Sic Transit
written by: Ian Fletcher
He was the doyen
of the faculty,
its brilliant professor
with his dazzling wit
and those soirées
in which the wine flowed
and his affairs began.
Then everything changed
when he was diagnosed
with a terminal disease.
“Five years at most,”
his doctors said.
He decided to rage
against the dying
of the light,
spending his days
and nights
composing a volume
of belles-lettres
that would guarantee
a kind of immortality.
He finished a month
before he died,
knowing they’d be
published posthumously.
Forty years later,
for some reason
he comes to mind
and on a whim
I look him up
on Amazon.
There’s the book:
cover image
unavailable
“Out of print”
used copies going
for less than
the price of postage
“In good condition.
Unmarked.”
Born and raised in Cardiff, Wales, Ian has an MA in English from Oxford University. He lives in Taiwan with his wife, two daughters and cat. He teaches English in a high school. He has had poems and short stories published in Duane’s PoeTree, Tuck Magazine, Best Poetry, The Ekphrastic Review, 1947 A Literary Journal, Spillwords Press, Dead Snakes, Your One Phone Call, Schlock! Webzine, Short-story.me, Literary Yard, Indian Periodical, Anotherealm, Under the Bed, A Story In 100 Words, Poems and Poetry, Friday Flash Fiction, The Drabble, and in various anthologies.
Latest posts by Ian Fletcher (see all)
- Golden Boy - July 8, 2024
- Sic Transit - April 19, 2024
- The Statue - September 5, 2023
