for Charles
Ber remembers fondly
the time you said,
"You're incorrigible!",
his camera's eye
catching you and me
without time to find
a face.
He wears your comment
like a badge of honor,
and now says
with a smile
as wide as the Gates
of Heaven that you and I
are incorrigible too.
I wear it proudly
as his father,
and now
that epithet
I pin on you,
though it'd be
just like you,
incorrigible
to the last,
to reply,
"Not me too?"
Heaven opens
only to those
who know themselves
and freely laugh
at what is true.
though in my case
and perhaps in yours,
our skinny selves
may only get there
thru the Gates of Hell.