I Only Have Eyes for You!

The store had been closed for a month or more,

The Receivers opened the door,

To auction off all the fittings there,

Whatever stood on the floor,

There were counters, mirrors, plenty of stock,

The tills and the rubbish bins,

It was all going under the hammer,

Even a line of mannequins.

 

When John McRogers happened to pass

He heard the clamour inside,

He peered on in through the window glass

And he watched the human tide,

The bids were coming from everywhere

From phones, and spread through the store,

So he wandered into the human mass

And made his way from the door.

 

He wandered along the vacant aisles

Saw everything piled in heaps,

There wasn’t much of a bidding war

So everything went quite cheap,

He wondered if he should make a bid

Was there anything there for him?

His eyes then came to rest on a girl,

A fabulous mannequin.

 

She stood in a line of eight or nine

But caught his eye from the start,

He thought that she had the bluest eyes

Of all, and she stood apart!

She must have been all of six foot six

With a tapering line to the waist,

And breasts of promise and silken legs

A woman of style and taste.

 

He put in a nervous bid when she

Was auctioned along the line,

But nobody put in a counter bid,

And he thought to himself, ‘She’s mine!’

He had a courier pick her up

And take her straight to his home,

Then stood her up in his office, where

He could savour her there, alone.

 

She hadn’t a scrap of clothing on

They’d taken it off when she went,

He tried to avert his eyes, she showed

No sign of embarrassment,

Her hands hung limply down at her side

No effort to cover up,

But her eyes had followed him round the room,

Whenever he’d start, or stop.

 

‘I’m going to call you Jennifer,’

He said to himself, out loud,

Then sensed she shuddered and straightened up

In a movement that seemed quite proud,

His wife had left him the year before

For a keeper, down at the zoo,

So now he said, and in fact he swore,

‘I only have eyes for you!’

 

‘I only have eyes for you, my dear,

My Jennifer from Le Trée,

I’ll always cherish you near me here

When I work out here, all day,

We’ll spend our evenings here in the warm

With a single desk-top light,

And in the gloom of this little room

You might even come to life!’

 

He left her naked, stood by his desk,

She had an erotic air,

The wig she wore flowed over her back

Brunette, but the lights were fair,

He worked each night at his desk in gloom

Lit only by one small stand,

And every now and again he’d rouse,

Reach over and touch her hand.

 

The hand was cold, plastic and hard

And it couldn’t return a thing,

Until one night, he opened a box

And slipped on a wedding ring,

He worked away for an hour or so

Til he’d filled out a batch of forms,

Then reached unconsciously out for her hand

To find it was soft and warm.

 

He looked up into her shining face

And noticed, to his surprise,

Her cheeks had softened, her lips were red

And a lovelight shone from her eyes,

He stood and reached for her willing form

And she did what he wanted to,

But an urgent message tugged at his brain,

‘I only have eyes for you!’

 

‘I only have eyes for you,’ she thought

And beamed that into his head,

He never would leave that office again,

His friends soon thought he was dead.

They came in force, broke into his house

And found that he’d really gone,

‘There’s only a couple of mannequins here,

But one of them looks like John!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[MomzillaNC]

I'm sure some find this a little creepy, like the old shorts on that show called "Tales of the Crypt Keeper" or something like it. I just found it sad. A man lost in his heartache and betrayal, lost and alone until he simply ceased to be, and no friend who cared enough to make sure he wasn't alone.

[Einstein Noodle]

ahahahaha! not always happy ever after is it!? you probably know the old song; one of my favorites
https://youtu.be/FvzNeh4Mq1o
but i listened to a disc jocky once that criticized the wording ...because the man says he has only his eyes devoted ..nothing else ..should be "I have eyes, only for you" ;) mannequins can be so creepy, sexy ..it is so weird ...if they aren't dressed in store windows i feel uncomfortable and avert my eyes ..go figure :) i think they have powerful mojo always enjoyable to read your stories sir!
E.

[Ardra]

very beautiful story... the end was surprising :)
loved the way you have described Jennifer
thanks for sharing it with us

[R Smith]

this is so much the stuff of dreams and nightmares, the beauty comes to life but the simple expression from him leads to his doom, I was working ahead on a possible twist, somehow I missed this one, silly me expecting a happy ending, you think I'd know better by now LOL, great work David :)

[M.E.Lyle]

Oh yes, a super story. This reminds me of some old Twilight Zone episodes. I love how you weave a story within a poem...genius.

[Beccy]

I had a sense of where this was going after the first four verses and truly I wasn't disappointed.

Shivers down the spine accompanied this wonderful and imaginative write that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Beccy.

[Claire in VA]

Incredible grand finale! I enjoyed
this immensely! You surprised me
at the end.

~Claire

[AprilRN1210]

Now that is an ending, nice twist definitely.. Throughout the poem, I felt the longing, the ache, the void, the feeling as if he didn't fit in anymore.. We do go through life trying to fill that void, cover the pain, mask the need.. It is about what is right for YOU, not what seems right to everyone else.. another lovely story, you write brilliantly--with just the right amount of meaning, heart,skill and imagination.. I enjoyed this one as well.. :)

[Woody]

wonderful poem and great story with the twist as the cherry on the pie. but I'm not one little bit surprised. all your poems are top notch. and that's that!

[Valentine]

Great ending, I did not expect it, that made it even greater. I guess love comes in many forms. Keep them coming. Kathie