Yeah, the Beatle’s guy
Part 1.
George Harrison
said that when it’s time to die
How many records you’ve made or songs
You’ve written isn’t going to matter.
In fact, he claimed that
Many of the best songs
He’d ever made, he never wrote down
And never recorded.
He was a Beatle, of course.
He also said “Once you’ve taken acid
4 times, you’ve gotten all
You’re going to get out of it.”
Come to think of it,
I can’t come up with a single thing
George Harrison ever said
That wasn’t true
And right and
Matching my thoughts about the world.
When I was 14 or so
My elderly Aunt Nita
Asked me “who’s your favorite Beatle?”
And I answered without hesitation,
“George.” Although back then,
I didn’t know why this was true or if it even was true.
Paul was charming.
John witty.
Ringo adorable.
But now I have outlived George
By several decades
And it turns out,
Whether I knew it or not,
I’d told Aunt Nita the truth.
Part 2.
If you live long enough
Or too long,
You might end up
Feeling sorta famous and successful
And imagining your obit
Will be pretty cool
And flashy,
Like some fancy guy
Who, you imagine,
Everybody wishes they knew, etc.
You may end up
Checking yourself out
On Google a lot
And comparing, favorably, your
Total number of hits
Per “(0.55 seconds)”
To other Google searches
of other authors you know.
You may look at images
Of yourself there and click on
“More images”
And count the number of pages/lines
That actually have
Anything to do with you,
And you may decide that this
Fame/recognition/celebrity
Is a reasonable
Substitute for having been
Stiffed by
The Pulitzer and the Nobel Committees.
And as you die
You may kid yourself
That you having been here
Made a big difference in the world,
Or
If you live long enough
You might realize
What a lie that is.
But either way,
Following your
Long life,
You’ll be dead.
And some of the best writings
you ever made will have been tossed
away
with the rest of the reminders of your
having once been here.
So,
you got that going for you.
