The Glasses Man

The Glasses Man

The glasses man made boxes in his shed and covered his glasses with sawdust
His hands shook only a little bit then
He cleaned them with a tissue from the roll in the kitchen

The glasses man lifted them up to read the tiniest print
To do the crossword
He soaked them with sweat when he dug in the garden
Too hot, too hard for a man of his age

Bifocals turned his feet to blurry shadows
When he walked down the stairs
He learned how, in time, to walk with his head down

The glasses man was thin and healthy young,
Barrel-shaped in middle-age, and then fading
Like a skin-and-bone kid in his dad’s glasses and giant t-shirt

The glasses man’s arms danced when he wanted to sit still
His mind worked on building sites in 1978
Sometimes he took his glasses off

 

May 2023

 

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