two deaths: charles bukowski and mr. rogers

I thought this was perfect for poetry month–

two deaths: charles bukowski and mr. rogers
by Carl Kavadlo

one died just
before he turned 74 and
the other passed at
the same age.
one left in 1994, the other in 2003.
nine years apart,
two great men leave us.
one a drunk, gambler,
womanizer; other
a teetotaler, preacher,
long monogamous.
that man had a tv show for children
showing only the most
wholesome and preciously
safe shows. the other wrote
endless poems of whores, horseplayers,
the jailed, the mad, the off-beat english
professors. also had a large following of youth
and the young at heart.
one swore, drank, womanized.
the other a complete man of the cloth.
both artists
and both true to themselves.
we forget that sometimes
in judging
people – we mortals
so fast to cast the first stone;
but god treated both the same,
leaning into the deeper than
surface self, into the center of
the heart,

where both were pure.