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A Successful Man

by

John Grey

I stand before a graveyard stone

and try to imagine success.

You know the kind –

where generals fail but privates triumph.

I repeat

for the sake of the conscience

grinding in my thoughts —

success is cold and it's fragile,

can strike against you

if the ones like me don't live up to it.

You, father,

imagine success in the world

where no one else

is buried here,

a bullet in one leg,

a pin in the other,

a mustached soldier

fifty years to the good

of carrying his babies.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Orbis, Dalhousie Review and Connecticut River Review. His latest books, “Leaves On Pages” and “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon.

John Grey
John Grey
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