'Fact'

The fact is, my friend, we matter more than you
A husband, lover, son, friend of ours
Outweighs at least a hundred such of yours
Its a fact of life, my friend, and of death too.

-- from Quatrains for a Primer of our Lives by David Constantine, read at Desert Blues.

See Henry Siegman and others in the LRB. Martin Shaw at oD