Vanishing Point

I’d noticed the girl a dozen times

As she passed me on the street,

All I could see were those red-rimmed eyes

And that look of pure defeat,

So often I thought to stop her there

To ask her what was wrong,

But I lived in a part of the city where

Such weakness didn’t belong.

 

We all sit huddled in high rise flats

And keep ourselves to ourselves,

We don’t get involved with the neighbours,

Heaven forbid that we should be friends,

We eye each other suspiciously

On the dark and dingy street,

And try to walk in the shadows

So that our passing will be discreet.

 

But often I’d pass the local cop

As he put the posters up,

‘Does anyone know the whereabouts…’

But nobody even stopped,

So many faces on poles and posts

And the names they would annoint,

Of those who’d gone to the edge of the world,

Right through to the Vanishing Point!

 

I often wondered about them all,

Was it easier to escape?

Was life such a terrible martyrdom

In the hands of a fickle fate?

So many were lost with every year

Was it murder, mayhem or less,

How many husbands misplaced their wives

In an act of carelessness?

 

The girl intrigued me, every day

She would pass by the corner shop,

But I never saw her happy or gay

She’d the weight of the world on top,

She slowly became insubstantial, like

A wraith that was taking the air,

I followed her round from a distance

Watched her enter the Pearly Fair.

 

There were clowns and strange hobgoblins there,

And often a Harlequin,

They wandered around in a daze, it seemed

Like a circus about to begin,

And not one had an identity

Apart from the paint they wore,

A slight disguise in a world of lies

Said, ‘What did we come here for?’

 

The girl got changed for the Judy Show

Full size, and Punch was a man,

He beat her there with a wooden club

As the audience clapped their hands,

The ‘club’ was really a cardboard roll

But it must have hurt like sin,

And Judy cried as the audience died,

‘I’m back in the world again!’

 

I followed her down to the waterside

At dusk, with its evil smell,

And others, still in their sad disguise

Were milling around, as well,

They warmed themselves by a brazier

And looked for a place to sleep,

But ‘Judy’ stood by the empty dock

And the water there was deep.

 

My eyes played tricks in the dimming light

She started to fade away,

Became as one with the falling night

Where the lost and the beaten pray,

She was there one minute and gone the next

The movement was so adroit,

The water formed like a giant tear

Right there, at the Vanishing Point!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Valentine]

David..this one brought to mind of just how many kids run away from home and end up walking the streets..Dope and booze to keep them high..with some parents..wondering if their child has hit that vanishing point..Others do not even report a missing person..A guy that does odd jobs for us..has no one..he sleeps in a tent in the town..he asked if he could sleep in our garage or shed..He is on probation and no one wants him around..Life is sad isn't it..Great thought provoking write..love and God bless Lyn and you..Kathie

[Patricia B. Hepler]

Misery isn't always obvious to those who haven't known it's depths..
*pat

[Talal Hussain]

Amazing stuff...very impressive :-)

[Ravyne Hawke]

I liked that this one is modern but still has that old world feel to it in its rhythm. I think at some point in time, many of us reach the vanishing point.. many of us may not actually disappear, but we definitely become isolated from those around us enough that we've vanished. Seems this lady did indeed reach her vanishing point.

[Mic]

A sad tale, David. Seems the world is a such a cold place for so many. Put me in mind of that song 'People are Strange' by the Doors. Made even more odd written from the view of a man merely curious, but no different than the watchers he described.

Excellent write David!

[David Scott]

I think there is a back story to this one. Mysterious my friend. The things we see or "think" we see... Enjoyed the story. David.

[Tate Morgan]

This was a deep one i had to think and follow closely . Amazing where the mind goes as it wanders to and fro isnt it.I have been having strange odd thoughts all day. I liked it .this reminded me of a poem i once wrote about the vanishing of the America i once knew.

[Writer *78*]

Mr Paget,

When I read this last night I thought it was a very Impressive poem. There is so much emotion with the character that you created Judy, she seems to have gone through alot in her life being on the streets since she can remember. This flowed beautifully paragraph to paragraph. When I got to the final stanza and as I read the final lines I was shocked and sad all at the same time. Great work. I ask you since you are a far better poet than myself would you mind reviewing my latest work 'Phantom: The Darkness Within' any feed back on how to better scribe it would be appreciated.

-Writer *78*

[Marie]

Oh that is so sad..."the water formed like a giant tear"...a beautiful phrase. At first i thought she simply deisappeared...then I realized what had happened...

[emmy bon]

beautiful piece you got sir, excellent story, i love it.