Worms

a guy told me,

you don't have to worry about worms when you're dead

they never get to you

the body changes like in all different

ways - by the time

they've worked through the casket

things have happened and it

always happens

different -

they've dug up these old kings outa tombs, ya know:

one guy was just

a little splotch of black

water, another had a

beard 18 feet long and another had

turned to a kind of rock-like salt.

yeah? I said.

yeah, he said.

he knew all these things.

he lived high in the hills and had these tremendous brains.

before I left I reached out and

pulled the worms out of his

eyes nose belly shoes hair ears

and then he said

good night

and I said

good night

and I got in my car and drove off

and the worms laughed

all the way home.

by Charles Bukowski (The Days Run away

like Wild horses over the hills)

Patti