- for Alan Seeger

[Alan Sondheim]

                                         - for Alan Seeger


there is something one will always know
our generation is the last to go

we're born, great-grandparents whisper down like ghosts
then pass away, we learn that there are hosts
of others, those we will not know,
our generation is the last to go

grandparents age, wither, die before their time
we're on their hinge, we're entering our prime,
or so we think, there's something more they know,
our generation is the last to go

our burdened parents follow us, their friends
surround us, until it's clear their ends
aren't ours, we wither in their dying, for they know
our generation is the last to go

and now, we're almost there, our children know
our generation is the last to go