Where Did He Go

Where did he go? The young man of height and charm, with a pleasant mien and a love of women, who would often give to him far than he deserved.... When was it he perished? This young and careless man who flew freely into a war zone, to a city of grace under siege by evil, where death was sudden, random, quiet-- if you heard the explosion, then you knew you were whole.... Where did he go? This dauntless globe trotter, landing in one country with only a few bucks, yet unworried: he knew, just knew he'd find a job, make friends, be all right.... Once in Tokyo he held a 100 yen coin in his hand, all the money he had in this vast, indifferent world, and smiled, the way only youth can smile, as old age is still an abstract, a foreign land of little interest. And so the old man ate the young man as the old long have devoured youth since life burst forth in an empty world. In truth though, it was only my old body that subsumed the godlike one that once carried my soul in this world of light and darkness and but four dimensions.... Now the mirror shows me an old man but it's a trick! I am sure it is, for I know the young man is hiding within-- he, me, I am twenty-four, only 24 years old and I do not ever age, not since, well, I was twenty-four.... You can laugh, I don't care, for I am young and will always be young, in this life, and I guess in the next one too.... 3/4/18