Steven Kent

Sailing to Bismarckium
(With apologies to W.B. Yeats)

              I.

That is no country for old men,
Nor much of one for others.
I would not see the place again,
Not if I had my druthers.

              II.

Oh, Grecian goldsmiths wear me out;
They're worse than holy sages.
I find too many now about,
Demanding higher wages.

              III.

What's left to do but sound alarms?
Our generation’s dying,
While in each other's open arms
The young are ever lying.

              IV.

An aged man's a paltry thing,
A tattered coat and so on.
O death, O death, where is thy sting?
It's time to get the show on.

Steven Kent is the poetic alter ego of writer and musician Kent Burnside (www.kentburnside.com). His work appears in 251, Asses of Parnassus, Light Poetry Magazine, Lighten Up Online, New Verse News, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Philosophy Now, Pulsebeat Poetry Journal, The Road Not Taken: A Journal of Formal Poetry, Snakeskin, and Well Read. His collection I Tried (And Other Poems, Too) was published in 2023 by Kelsay Books.