Can't swim; uses credit cards and pills to combat <br /> intolerable feelings of inadequacy; <br />Won't admit his dread of boredom, chief impulse behind <br /> numerous marital infidelities; <br />Looks fat in jeans, mouths clichés with confidence, <br /> breaks mother's plates in fights; <br />Buys when the market is too high, and panics during <br /> the inevitable descent; <br />Still, Pop can always tell the subtle difference <br /> between Pepsi and Coke, <br />Has defined the darkness of red at dawn, memorized <br /> the splash of poppies along <br />Deserted railway tracks, and opposed the war in Vietnam <br /> months before the students, <br />Years before the politicians and press; give him <br /> a minute with a road map <br />And he will solve the mystery of bloodshot eyes; <br /> transport him to mountaintop <br />And watch him calculate the heaviness and height <br /> of the local heavens; <br />Needs no prompting to give money to his kids; speaks <br /> French fluently, and tourist German; <br />Sings Schubert in the shower; plays pinball in Paris; <br /> knows the new maid steals, and forgives her.<br /><br />David Lehman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-difference-between-pepsi-and-coke/
