The Plays
The Life of George Washington [sample]
by Charles L. Mee
CHUCK BUCKLEY
And then you think
he came to the end of his life.
I don't think so.
With some people,
it's hard to say when they died
or if they ever did.
That's how it is with the immortals.
Reminds me of that famous writer
whatshisname
when someone asked him what he hoped for after he died
he said
he hoped that maybe just one of his books.....
or really, maybe just one paragraph.....
or even really if just.......
one sentence....
or really, he said,
I'd just like to disappear into the English language.
And you hear him say that and you think
wow
that sounds awfully modest
and then you think
oh
I see
he wanted to live on in the language itself
so that ever after
whenever anyone spoke English
they would be speaking him
and I thought
right
he was like George Washington
who disappeared into history
disappeared into the American landscape
so that
now
he's everywhere.
You think he's vanished
and then
there he is again,
and you think:
was he there all the time
and I just couldn't see him?
Like the rest of us.
