[colinbaker62]

Like a shuffling caterpillar we enter the room.
Our sole source of daylight, a generous arched window
looking out upon a troubled ocean.
Books, paintings, furnishings are all just so,
whilst paint and polish odours
dance merrily hither and thither.


Presently, my gaze wanders to the room's centre.
There, glazed in a yellowing autumnal shadow,
and as clean as a seashell,
a confident looking chintz chair.
It stares at us.
As if daring any one of us
to challenge its presence.
No one does of course.
Not audibly anyhow.
Pressing button five on
my audio guide keypad,
I listen.


[ play guide ]


' In this room is the chair.
The very chair in which the Duke of Wellington,
( Lord Warden ) died, in 1852, following a stroke '


[ pause guide ]


With the chair's identity known,
I wrestle to unfrown many questions.
Is death exclusive to this room ?
Exclusive to this chair ?
Exclusive to Wellington ?
Why immortalise a 'Lord Warden' ?
Why ignore countless others ?


A man died Monday morning, while shopping at Tescos.
Collapsed by the tinned soups like a felled animal.
Will a modest crowd be gathered at Tescos two centuries from now,
- audio guides to hand -
attending an account of this deceased shopper's life ?
Why was our shopper not buried in a sarcophagus ?
Was he any less deserving ?
Was he any less a human being ?
Was the price too prohibitive ?
Was Wellington simply a class act ?
So too his funeral ?
(His)tory....Simply bursting with questions.


[ play guide ]



Poem copyright© Colin Baker. 2005

[DarkPower]

Very nice little story you told Colin. As far as things go thats all true but their isnt much that will ever be done about it.

[colinbaker62]

Originally Posted by DarkPower

Very nice little story you told Colin. As far as things go thats all true but their isnt much that will ever be done about it.

Thank you DP for reading.

I would argue that there is mucg that can be done, not least of all because it is a socio-economic phenomenon of human making. (That is unless one believes in a deity of sorts which I do not). Humans can indeed take ever greater control of their daily affairs the less economic privilege needs to be defended by a minority of exploiting peoples..

Merry New Year and stuff for 2006 by the way..

[DarkPower]

Your right, but I think though people can do something about it. They wont.

happy new year to you aswell

[Elvisceration]

I think the pagentry of death will always be the preserve of the wealthy. But it doesn't matter to me because it doesn't matter to the worms that will consume us all!

[colinbaker62]

Originally Posted by Elvisceration

I think the pagentry of death will always be the preserve of the wealthy. But it doesn't matter to me because it doesn't matter to the worms that will consume us all!

Hi Elvisceration and thanks so much for reading and posting. I think your point about the worm's likely indifference is quite profound..

[Hagetaka]

Had no idea you wrote poetry colin. Its form is quite alien to me, but nevertheless, not bad.

the worm's likely indifference

ahahah, something about that struck me as funny. Thanks for the laugh.