Doomed to Die?
That old man over there looks a bit of a freak
Thought the woman sitting in the opposite chair,
He just sits there fidgeting and he doesn't speak
Wearing an expression of absolute despair!
Perhaps he's just fallen out with his wife
Or had some bad news but what do I care?
It's not up to me to rearrange his life,
There are people with problems almost everywhere.
I think I'll go out for a cigarette
She decided and smiled, for a bit of 'fresh air',
It's hardly time for my appointment yet
And I'm getting the creeps with him sitting there!
As she stood outside smoking she heard a loud thud
And went back in and saw him lying there,
Twisted and crumpled and covered in blood,
It was over his clothes and smudged in his hair.
'Quick! Phone the police! ' she heard somebody shout
So she made a quick exit and ran down the street,
'I don't care what they think but I've got to get out
There's a killer round here that I don't want to meet! ! '
'You'd better come down to the station, dear, '
The policeman said with that look in his eye
That told her he thought her behaviour quear
And her claim to innocence was merely a lie.
'It's really got nothing to do with me! '
She exclaimed in frustration and started to cry,
'Please let me go home and cook the kids tea,
It's a terrible shock to see someone die! '
Later that evening as she lay in her bed
She pictured the scene and still wondered why
The victim had seemed already half-dead
With the strange light of madness that shone in his eye.
'Perhaps he deserved it, or welcomed his death,
Perhaps he was paying his ultimate debt,
Whatever it was he's breathed his last breath,
It's a day I will always want to forget! '
In her dreams she was standing overlooking the shore
On a headland when suddenly he appeared at her side,
'I can't stand it! ' he said, 'I don't want to live anymore! '
And he threw himself down to the sea and died.
poem by John Thorkild Ellison
Added by Poetry Lover
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