Day Twenty-Eight: My Greatest Fear

PAUPER

My greatest fear is that I'll outlive

my ability to earn an income,

and will want to die faster, simply

because living is too expensive.

Millions of people are already old,

but they have an established system,

whether it's SSI or a juicy 401K,

and I was always too lazy to fill out forms.

It's sheer luck that I'm alive now,

or perhaps it's because I'm always

demanding to speak to the supervisor.

Life will become more difficult, and

my survival skills are as insufficient

as paper plates in a rainstorm,

while the clouds of impending age gather.

I suppose it's handy

that I've always had a skill for

talking myself out of trouble,

but it's impossible to say how long that will last.

In the meantime, each morning

I'm a little bit older,

and as I climb out of bed again, I realize

that it's not death I fear, it's aging.