The distance between beneath the underdog
and under your own bootstep, Camerado, is a matter of
perspective. You need to be jarred out of your old ways
of thinking by a cataclysmic event. Like turning 70.
I'm not young anymore. I'm not even middle-aged.
I'm an old fart. An old bitch, gone in the teeth.
A botched civilization. Of course it's botched.
So what? They all are. Get used to it.
Melville said the result is a final hash,
and all my books are botches.
He said that about Moby-Dick.