Into the Sunset and other poems
Jon B. Albertson
Into the Sunset
Presumptive errant knight of academes,
The Rosinante Rhetoric I ride
Full gallop, muddying the stagnant streams,
Disturbing far too peaceful academic pride,
I charge the fruitless windmill’s fray
Defending Dulcinea students’ rights.
They patronize, and with a smile, betray
What trust they may’ve once had in errant knights
As I. Yet I attack the epidemic
From within the system—by its rules.
I set myself up, errant knight academic,
Though codes I follow render me a fool.
Charge rank pretensions! Even if little more
I fade out to be than idealist metaphor.
A Rose by Any Other Name
The days love fails to pay proportionate
Assessed risk dividend, the investor must
Determine whether he should liquidate
Or hold his ground and go for bust.
Will broad portfolio maintain potential
Despite a sacrificed diversity?
Love’s investments seem inconsequential
In proportion to assessed adversity.
Inestimable sacrifice of self
Is the initial minimum deposit.
But days the dividend pays off
There is no bank vault can contain it.
So as to whether love is worth its risks…
A rose by any other name still pricks.
The Only Gift
A child, I made the assumption dad was mine—
He’d brought me to this world to bend his will.
With pride and few complaints, he gave his time.
A middle-aged adult now, married, doing time—
I work sixty hours a week for every frill
a child should expect to have, if he is mine.
A cursed blessing now, a son is mine.
His oyster-world complying well until,
with persistent complaints, he wastes his time
expecting me to willfully resign
my time to wait on him, to pay his bills….
A teen, he dares assume he can take mine.
In desperation, I get my father on the line—
“I’ve given everything imaginable and still…”
Calmly, and with no complaints, dad gives his time.
Now, an adult, my son persists to whine
that after all is said and done, I owe more still—
“A friend,” he says, “I dreamed that you were mine.
The only gift I wanted was your time.”
Jon B. Albertson has been teaching English for a decade and a half. He is currently an AP Literature and Creative Writing teacher at an Arts Magnet School in the Northwest. He is previously unpublished as a poet.
Photo Courtesy of 123rf.
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Poems Copyright © 2008 Jon B. Albertson. All rights reserved.
