Return of a Poor Man
Return of
a Poor Man
A poor man but brave,
Set out to explore the wastes beyond,
For none had done so,
And he would win for himself renown.
And the townspeople celebrated him,
And encouraged his quest,
And lauded him publicly.
But among themselves in secret,
They spoke of having the great fortune
Of having rid themselves of him
And were glad of his leaving
That they no longer need
To gaze upon such paucity
And the guilt they carried,
For they would spare him little.
And there were those among them
That laughed in mean spirit against him,
For his clothing was meager
And his weapons scant.
Yet he was set forth with great ceremony,
And their merriment at his leaving
Carried perhaps too long.
And when having done with that,
They returned to the business
Of enriching themselves with the baubles
That served to impress each other
Until acquiring more
That they may espy the envy of others
They so hungered for.
Of his travails in the wild
I will not tell,
For what I might say,
And what you might imagine,
Were both greater
And lesser
Than what can be said here.
This I will say:
Though he had seen and experienced much,
He came back the poorer than when he had left.
But upon his return,
The town now made another celebration,
For ennui had crept upon them
And their dissatisfaction was great.
Now would they press upon him
Those trinkets they had bored of
Or needed no longer,
Or were last year’s fashion.
And they made upon him many speeches,
But would not hear his tales as yet,
Seeking to outdo the other
In lavish talk they did not mean,
And would not be remembered.
At his each request they hushed him,
For he was after all still a poor man,
And they had no need of his words.
Then were found for him a lavish apartment,
And he was tucked to rest,
And left on his own.
Many days went by without an appearance,
And checking his quarters
He was found dead of starvation,
For during all the speechifying,
No one had heard him ask
For a fucking sandwich.
And they returned to their scurrying
And took up again their empty tasks,
And spent many days wondering
“What the fuck?”
Cliff Lake 1/9/2024
Copyright © Clifford Lake 2024
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