Below is a sample poem from Mr. Diego's book, THE POETRY OF ROBERTO DIEGO

Price $9.95

To order your copy of Mr. Diego's book containing over 125 poems click here

Poem 1 | Poem 2| Poem 4 | Poem 5

I AM THE PERSON

I am the person who walks a little slower than you,

who you speed by most often without noticing.

If you do notice, you laugh at my infirmities.

 

I am the person who participated in the history you read about.

I am the person who made that history.

I am the person who has seen the worlds you may never see,

who conquered the lands you may never visit,

or suffered the pain that if not for me,

you may have had to suffer.

 

I am the person who is a pebble on the stone, the highway, the road which you walk.

I am someone to make a bit of fun about,

I am someone who understands things you have yet to consider.

I am a person who has seen things you should never have to see.

I am a person who created things that you take for granted.

I am a person who built the monuments you sit under, who knew your parents' parents,

 

I knew their lives, I who struggled with them,

and sometimes against them.

And when you walk by me in your beauty and your youth,

you look at the lines in my face, and the bent of my back,

and you think,

"I will never be like that old man."

 

Yes, I am an old man.

If you would but stop and talk to me,

you would find a mind rich in knowledge,

and eager to share.

 

But I am an old man,

not worthy of your great attention.

For you are on your way to a nowhere

that my aged wisdom has rejected.

 

I might walk slowly,

but there is incentive

in my avoidance of your folly.

I know where you are going

for I have been there.

 

Copyright 1999 by Roberto Diego