An Eccentric III
It took just a while to conclude
she lived on a pension that
even a cat would sniff at,
and SSI, of course, so when we went monthly
to Tir Na Nog, I usually paid.
A doctor suggested warfarin
for her atrial fibrillation.
'I appreciate the recommendation',
she replied, 'but I'll take no rat's bane
and what's more, intend to outlive you! '
So she compromised with aspirin,
dying at home, ninety-ish, years later.
Annoyingly, she'd say 'see you later alligator',
each time we parted. I understood-
folks get used to the idioms of their days.
She was cremated. At her uptown memorial
leaning my arms on an odd upsurge in the table linen
I asked her cousin Ellen
where her ashes were. 'You're leaning on them, '
she replied, slightly taken back.
And so I was. 'See
you later, alligator,
I said, and once again, 'see you later.'
Adding 'nice to know you.'
and so it was.
*Tir Na Nog an Irish restaurant. 'The Land Of Dreams'
poem by Morgan Michaels
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