Slippers
I step in these thick-soled carpet slippers,
aware that some floorboards will creak
when I tread and apply too much pressure:
I try to avoid such strain on places,
that will attract low complaint,
of the short pleasures which I take,
such as readings, or speeches,
I see these as our common duty,
that none of us should shy from,
because this life is not
about waiting to die, at best,
not in thick-soled carpet slippers.