The Old Man

A response to Dead Poets Live prompt: Poetic Parable

Please, please let no elderly person Embark and force me for etiquette’s sake To leave this seat reserved solely for the old And vulnerable. For I who am travelling On a bus with a large suitcase require All the room there is to accommodate my heavy load.

But wait, what do I observe but a wizened old man Hobbling towards me, armed with a walking stick, His rightful place to demand. There is no time For pretence and a distracted glance out the window. Nay, nay, I have no choice but to jump up and politely Offer him what is his by public transport law.

Acknowledging my offer he bids me Remain seated and hold on to my suitcase Which will now take up the open space Reserved for stretching out our feet. I obey and he gently comes to rest beside me. Then turning to me he looks me in the eye And reaches out to the soul of this stranger To his land and says, “Believe me, There is plenty of room in this world for all of us.”

Thank you, David S., for the prompt and, as always, for the very informative background details on your chosen poet(s). As you may know, I love to take up a challenge and experiment with my writing. However, this time I almost gave up as I couldn’t get my head around writing a poetic parable. I did remember, though, a little story I wrote in a post on empathy and decided to rewrite it as my offering, though not really a parable as such. I can only tell stories.