Sanity
Back when I was in high school,
a classmate, Bart, once called me
the “sanest person” he had ever met.
It wasn’t meant as a compliment.
The implication was that I was too
strait-laced, too “square,” and
above all, too calculating. All true.
I’ve always been extremely cautious,
and even a bit of a hypochondriac.
Not a big risk-taker, to put it mildly.
By contrast, Bart had an adventurous life,
He became a bush pilot in Alaska, and
I heard he did a fair amount of smuggling.
Divorced three times, he always had a lot
of girlfriends too, in between wives.
Bart died young though, in his early fifties,
of a poorly managed heart condition.
I had some heart problems myself,
but went through with a big operation
that the doctors say will keep me ticking
for a good long time. I hope they’re right.
So here I am, still sane, still alive,
and still married to the same sweet girl
I met in high school, who incidentally
went out with Bart for awhile, but decided
she wanted someone a little less crazy.
© John Eustis
John Eustis
The Loch Raven Review 