Magnussen and the Mayor

‘The way that we go to our death,’ he said,

‘Reflects on the life we lived,

Whether we scream, and rant and curse

Or thank the Lord for the gift.

None of us want to face the thought

Of the long, dark tunnel there,

With no-one to hold or comfort us

In that last, long bleak despair.’

 

‘I’d like to help you, I really would,’

I muttered under my breath,

He made me feel so discomfited

With this talk about looming death.

I said, ‘You’re not going to die today,

Just take it all in your stride,

And pull the cord when you’re well away,

Then all you will do is glide.’

 

I checked his straps and his buckles in

The back of the D.C.3,

One of the old war horses that

We’d bought from the military,

The plane was old, but was good as gold

It had flown for sixty years,

And for all its sins with a strong headwind

It could still fly in reverse.

 

The jumper was Harold Magnussen

From an old Danish elite,

He came from the Viking Hardware Store

That stood in the old High Street,

But times were tough and he’d had enough

From the council in the town,

The Mayor was running the council and

Was trying to close him down.

 

The Mayor commissioned a fountain that

Had blocked the right of way,

Surrounded it with a lily pond,

Kept customers away,

The more that Harold complained and sued

The more the Mayor had cooled,

For he was also the magistrate,

And said that the council ruled.

 

He barred the passage of motor cars

And turned it into a Mall,

Then had the lily pond widened with

No entry there at all,

 ‘I’ll soon be rid of these Vikings,’ said

The Mayor of Saxon Town,

They’ve ruled this borough for far too long

And now they’re going down!’

 

Harold put on his helmet, and he

Took a look at the time,

‘Are you sure and certain you’ll be alright?’

I said, but he looked sublime,

He stepped on out of the open door,

His chute just billowed and flared,

I breathed a sigh of relief, for just

A moment there, I was scared.’

 

I’d said to head for the pastures where

They’d wait him coming down,

But then I saw he was turning, speeding

To the centre of town,

I thought, ‘He’s going to kill himself,’

And I couldn’t catch my breath,

So that’s what he had been talking about,

Going to seek his death!

 

The Mayor was sat on the wall outside,

As he did every day at ten,

And Magnussen must have known it for

He timed his jump for then,

He hurtled down and along the street

Boots first, from out and beyond,

And hit the Mayor at a hundred knots

Who flew face down in the pond.

 

They said that it was unfortunate,

An accident, they said,

And nobody blamed old Magnussen

But the Mayor was drowned, and dead,

They filled the pond and the fountain went

And the cars drive up the street,

Just as it was in the olden days

When the Vikings brought the fleet!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[David Scott]

Ha! How often accidents are attributed to the fate of human kind... Usually, there is intelligent intent weather evil or good. Yet we drive down the paved streets, thinking it was all our own doing...
I saw a lesson beyond the fact that the "mayor was murdered".
Great write David!

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

Faith, humanity and our need to end - a will written and thoughful piece.

[Marc Marlon Villaflor]

Brilliant! love it!

[A Soap Mess Stories]

Another great story.!

[Mark]

Yeah, but...Magnussen was dead, too, so did he really win? Another delightful example of tongue-in-cheek Pagetalia, illustrating how hate and vengeance never provide the solutions you had hoped for!

[keyvan]

You are amazing,thank you.....

[quinfinn]

i gotta go....Valhalla waits for me.......another great write

[roarke]

Eric the Red sacking Humpty Dumpty, I guess technology and progress don't change everything.... lol

You sir are the poetic saga master.
When Vikings Fly...

[Marie]

The Viking sprit remains...!