THE STORYTELLER by Becky Hemsley

"THE STORYTELLER"
by Becky Hemsley

The pub I was in smelt of wine and cigars

When I saw two old men who were sat by the bar

One was surrounded by laughter and cheers,

The other was sitting alone with his beers

I felt really bad for the man all alone

So I walked up and pulled up a stool of my own

And that’s when I noticed the stuff on the floor

The holdalls and trunks and suitcases galore

“What’s in them?” I asked, and he shrugged with a sigh

“Just things I thought mattered - the things I could buy.”

Then he drank up his drink and whilst shedding a tear

He smiled at me sadly and then disappeared

And nobody noticed...

'cause all he had left

Was the stuff in the boxes, the trunks and the chests

Then I looked to the group where the other man spoke

And they laughed ‘til they cried as he told them a joke

So I took myself over and stood at the back

And noticed he hadn’t got cases or sacks

But the stories he told of the oceans he’d sailed,

The countries he’d seen and the mountains he’d scaled

His stories were epic, his life had been full

Then he tapped on his glass and he said to us all

“It’s time I must go but I’ve loved growing old

And I know I’ll live on through the tales that I’ve told

Please believe when I say that to live is enough

Your life should be measured by memories not stuff.”

Then he rose from his chair and we all shed a tear

As he held up his drink to us...

then disappeared

*****

Becky Hemsley 2020

Wonderful artwork (entitled ‘The Last Sup’) by Chris McMorrow

'The Storyteller' is from my first book, Talking to the Wild https://a.co/d/egHaAyF

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