Curtain Call (poem)

Curtain Call

I suspect it will happen
without warning or fanfare
without drama or premonition

now you see him now
you don't sort of thing

and of course there will be
those who are surprised
and those who aren't
but no one collapses
from shock

the tidbit in the paper
gets published or not
and a gathering of sorts
arranged by my wife
and some come
and some don't
a few nice things get said

somebody reads something
if I get my way but
of course I'll never know

and that's about it really
maybe a few mentions now
and again but there's no family
legacy to speak of

just a library full of writing
an online archive the same
gathering dust and whatever it is
that happens in cyberspace
to megs of forgotten bytes

finally no one remembers much
of anything and says less
silence begets silence

even dust to dust suggests
more activity than merited

by oblivion

--Charles Deemer