He was told, “Don’t get your
underwear all scrunched up.
They aren’t thinking about
you all that much, if at all,”

but it has taken so many more
years to hear that again in
a meditation on brevity,
vapor, the world, the cosmos

and creation. “So soon old,
so late wise,” similar to “Let
us know how few days we
have and so gain wisdom

of heart.” But that was taught
in Sunday School and someone
thought nine-year-olds would
understand anything about the

brevity of life? Shakespeare
wrote about bit parts in a
play being played out on stage
but that was read in college

when all he thought about
was how to cover a zit before
going on a date. Getting ahead
seemed so important in the

early years and stupid arguments
with a spouse were okay because
he was right anyway and besides
there would be so many days to

make up. And the years flew by.
And then again, he did scrunch
up his shorts in a moment of self-
revelatory stupidity and it was

only then, in utter humiliation,
that he understood the wisdom
of the words, “When the student
is ready, the teacher will be

there.” Little did he know the
teacher was his nemesis, Hard
Knocks, who greeted him with,
“Well, hello again, old buddy.”