第1422期：A Poem – How’s Life?

I had a German colleague.

He always greeted me, “How’s life?”

What a question! I thought.

Life is short, life is ok, life is hard, life is a long story.

What should I say?

But I know he didn’t mean to ask a question.

“How’s life?” is never a question.

No one has the answer.

No answer is correct.

“Nicht so gut. Danke. Und Sie?” (Not so good. Thanks. And you?)

I greeted him back, matter-of-factly.

My German colleague is gone.

Back to his hometown in Deutschland.

No one ever asks me that philosophical question.

Should he greet me again,

I’d say, “Bearable.”

How’s life treating you depends on –

Not only you.

If life treats you like shit,

Slap life on the face, kick his ass.

Straighten up, move on.

Keep walking –

Think nothing, fear nobody.

Next time when someone asks you

“How’s life?”

Understand he needs no answer,

but a nod, a smile, and a thank-you.

How’s life?

I don’t know.

But I know WHAT’S life –

Life is everything out there

Before we die.

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*Written by Fuolao, amidst the unprecedented lockdown in the magic city.