The world’s oldest man smoked a pack of cigarettes
Every day of his life, leaving open to interpretation the
Mystic reality that something bad for your health is
Not always as bad as we want to believe.
At his death, his life was picked apart
By scientists and the popular media until his history hung bleeding
Out of his cadaver like so many blendered mice in a lab.
The only conclusion we could come to was that he often spoke in
Riddles for no reason and made up lies about his past, since
He had a rolling memory lapse that only included
The previous 75 years. At 100 he could only
Remember what had happened to him from 25 years
Old or after. He could no longer remember his wedding
But he could remember his wife. Well, he could until he turned 115.
Then he couldn’t anymore.
But, having smoked for so long, he could never forget that.
His mind was very sharp in that regard,
And he refused all assistance in living even until the day of his death
At the amazing age of 128.
He could no longer remember the picture of himself
That hung over his fireplace. It showed him and another man,
Arm in arm, after the great battle of Gettysburg
In the American Civil War. He had been a war correspondent and
The other man was a friend that died over a century before.
He admired the picture and always thought that, if he were
Ever able to go back in time, he’d go back to the time of that picture
And meet the two handsome men in the photo. They seemed
Just so content and full of living just then.