It was Shakespeare who said
cruel to be kind
i wonder what he meant
by that
was it something like
could it be
that one day you weren't here
I mean I wasn't here one day
and then it was a Sunday
in October
sometime somewhere someplace
some decade
some century
some millennium
between Georgetown and Foggy Bottom
and then I was
like pop
here
it all happened so suddenly
and the crying began
and then the laughter
I guess it might happen the same way
on the way out
one day you're just here
and the next day
you just aren't
you are just gone
gone
but to where
Thank God for Lido's pizza
maybe it's like that guy in France contended
that existence precedes essence
but you know when I think about it
when I give it some thought
isn't he like everyone else
really just guessing?

the apache kid