With the concurrence
of bad food
an at-risk natural world
and modern medicine
today it's fashionable
to want a satisfying
healthy life
rather than one
that is merely long.
Probably a positive trend overall
in terms of self-
and other-awareness.
but yesterday the oldest man
in the world
111-year-old
New Yorker Alexander Imich
died after evading
the Nazis in Poland
learning five languages
getting a Zoology degree
and writing books.
He was once asked
how he lived so long
and answered
"I don't know.
I simply didn't die earlier."
He did take physical care
of himself
by eating well
and exercising
but there's something to be said
for sticking around
with a slightly beat-up machine
doing what you can with it
but also
just being around to see.
This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.
