Men's Gossip
all our sons are men
capable of operating
independently in life
they watch us enter
the age of angioplasty
bifocals and prostate scares
without thought we were them
or as we are
they too will be
yet ideally
to whom else
should we speak
our fears and longings
preparing them
and ourselves for the dark
the generation gap or trap
persuades us into
this dance of opposites
who might rather be brothers
at a median age
seated together
warm firm flesh
between the skeleton
and the clothes
giving voice
to the beauty
death makes piquant
and by the likeness
in our faces
showing liking
Other poems by Tony Beyer