Sixty-Eighth Birthday Poem

Robert L. Penick

It wasn’t supposed
to play out so long.

This spool of time
should have been
cut short
when life was a pageant,
a parade of beauty and desire.

Envy the astronauts
killed on liftoff.

Or the pyrotechnician
dead in his explosion
of fireworks.

From the stars, they now pity
your lusterless, downward
arc.

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The poetry and prose of Robert L. Penick have appeared in over 100 different literary journals, including The Hudson Review, Soundings East, and North American Review. His latest book is Exit, Stage Left, from Slipstream Press. More of his work can be found at theartofmercy.net