Not Here Anymore

Milton P. Ehrlich

 

Yet I can still hear

my musical alarm

wake me up for work—

Some day I’m going

to murder the bugler,

some day they’re going

to find him dead.

I see my white shirt

hanging on the door,

my empty shiny shoes

lined up on the floor.

I feel alive in a way

I’ve never felt before.

I must get out of bed,

but I’m not here anymore.

Where have I gone you ask?

You will be the first to know

just as soon as I find out.

 

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Milton P. Ehrlich Ph.D. is an 87-year-old psychologist and a veteran of the Korean War. He has published many poems in periodicals such as the London Grip, Arc Poetry Magazine, Descant Literary Magazine, Wisconsin Review, Taj Mahal Literary Journal, Antigonish Review, Ottowa Arts Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Huffington Post, Christian Science Monitor, and The New York Times.