Editorial
May the reader use discerment
Poems
The Giants
and the Dwarfs
heart of darkness
The Wanderer
A chocolate room
Relay
Writing
Cafe Evergreen (3)
Multilingual
Page
German:
origin of English
Novel
Adonis
Blue (4)
Guest
Writers' Corner
Wondering
Poems
The Wanderer
One day a distant wanderer
Staggered into town
Dressed in rags and rubbish bags
He hardly made a sound.
Instead he stood there staring
A beer bottle in his hand
The public were repulsed by him
And this I could understand.
Suddenly he turned in my direction
And caught my scathing eye
I hid behind The Daily News
But the seat next to me he did spy.
Slowly he staggered towards me
With multi-directional feet
He lingered momentarily in the air
And then collapsed onto the seat.
I was hit by the smell of alcohol
I dare not turn my head
He was rejected by society
Thus the town around me fled.
But then suddenly he drew closer
He was growing ever boulder
And before I knew where he was
He was looking over my shoulder!
“Do you mind?!” I protested
And he slunk back into his seat
I was silently victorious
While he had the face of defeat.
But my heart must have been softened
(Although I only confessed it later)
I turned around towards him
And then offered him my paper.
Well, his arms were tightly folded
The beer bottle thrown to the ground
His face was contorted in such a manner
That I was surprised when he made a sound:
“I don’t need no paper.
It’s all the same to me.
You see, the world’s so full of problems,
It’s as though it ‘appens naturally.”
Well at this indignant reply
I could not be help be much surprised
But just as I was thinking of leaving
I noticed a twinkle in his eyes.
They say that curiosity killed the cat
Well I must have been tempting fate
By staying and expectantly listening
To what he was about to relate:
“You see, what’s in a paper is all the same
All will appear on occasions,
Just different places and different faces
Except for some slight variations!:
Fire consume precious forests
While earthquakes rock the ground
Hundred perish in widespread droughts
In flash floods thousands drown.
“Wars erupt all over the earth
While many speak of peace
‘The Cold War has ended!’ they declare
But conflicts never cease.
Politicians create a deception
They touch the public’s heart
Now the raped try to find protection
And the divorced depart.
“Fluorocarbons have changed our seasons
The ozone layer gone by hand
Encouraged by deforestation
Until there is no more furtile land.
Come swim in the Earth’s clean waters
Where the sea is supposedly blue
There’s lots of driftnet fishing
And lumps of sewage too!
Of course there’s death and old age
And thousands of diseases
Hurricanes and tornadoes originate
From what were just mild breezes.
Satanic rituals and child abuse
Broken families and car deaths
Technology may be advancing
But on the roads our coffins rest.
Acid rain, toxic waste
And on abortions they’ve protested
Animals tested for human needs
Scientifically molested.
In space, trash does orbit
In the ‘age of exploration’
On Earth we’re overcrowded
By an exploding population.
In other countries, there’s racial tensions
And conflict because of religion
And daily we are influenced
By what is on the television.
People murder, people steal
They vandalise by fire
They smoke and take deadly drugs
In youths you’ll find a buyer!
There’s a shortage of fuels and clean water
While deserts continue to expand
Animals becoming extinct
As man devours the land.
Unemployment continues to increase
Along with secular education
Traditional morals past a long time ago
Nothing’s left to the imagination.
Will this world end in a holocaust?
The Earth a nuclear waste?
Or will we be eventually saved,
By life from outer space?
Yes it’s all the same in newspapers
All will appear on occasions
Just different places and different faces
Except for some slight variations…..”
Well, I was aghast at his speech,
And by the time that had elapsed
In fact I was about to reply when
I turned and found he had collapsed.
But on walking away slowly
On his words I did reflect
And I knew that never from that day on
The wanderer’s ‘wisdom’ would I forget.
