The Glass Half Full

[tomsdisch]

It's mid-July at the end of the world,
a Saturday morning hot and muggy
even at one a.m. and CNN has no new terrors
for us insomniacs. A little philosophy
is in order at times like these,
so see if this helps: it has perplexed me
during these last so-many darkling years
that I could not be entirely candid
about the dismal prospect of our darling Earth
when I speak with those whose lives revolve
around their children. One may be stoic
on one's own account, but with kids in the bunker
it seems cruel to rule out
some kind of future.

Philosophy
solves that problem, for the same solace
we offer ourselves with respect to our own
evanescence--that we can savor the precious days
remaining all the more keenly
by virtue of knowing they'll be our last--
is no less a solace for teens and wee bairns.
The poigance of fields and gardens
never to be harvested again
is their bittersweet and ours,
a fragrance to damp our appetites
even as it readies us for heaven's
hypothetical splendors. Let us imagine them
as we share this last kiss.

--Tom Disch