The Final Muse

‘I think I’ve come to the end of things,’

He said, without a tear,

‘But I don’t mind, for I cannot find

A reason to be here.

The hopes I cherished are in the past,

The dreams all come undone,

I look ahead to the future and

I know, there isn’t one.’

 

He sat alone on the patio

And stared on out to the bay,

‘There was a time,’ he began again,

Then stopped in his dismay,

For whitecaps out in the ocean still

Were rolling in to the shore,

Just like they had on another day,

Just like they’d done before.

 

And pictures came to his aging eye

Of the world, how it had been,

When life and love were a world away

When he was just sixteen,

But times and tides had rolled over him

In a restless, reckless ride,

Had torn the very heart out of him

To leave empty space inside.

 

‘There must be a time,’ he thought aloud

‘When it’s right to call it quits,

When you’ve done the things that you wanted to

And it’s fallen all to bits,

With friends and lovers gone on their way

And with not a glance aside,

While I, stiff-necked, and so correct,

Am caught in the sin of pride.’

 

And then, the thought of his darling wife

Had finally raised a tear,

The sense he’d not even noticed her

For the time that she was here,

‘We never know what we’ve got,’ he thought,

‘Til it’s well and truly lost,

Just one more line in the ledger that

Adds up to the final cost.’

 

Then the children, what of the children with

That look of innocent trust,

Who burrowed into that heart you had

When you thought that God was just,

But once they’re grown and you find they’ve flown

To their lives, to stand or fall,

You wait for them to return to you

But you find they never call.

 

‘I think I’ve come to the end of things,’

He said, without a tear,

‘But I don’t mind, for I cannot find

A reason to be here.’

The only sound was the breaking waves

With the salt-spray and its sting,

He looked about like a man who craves,

But none were listening!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[LPS]

Just turning 30 this year, I have spent so much time beating my head against the wall. With many tries and just as many failed attempts, this thirst to succeed sometimes makes us forget what it is really all about. Replacing optimism with bitterness. Well your words hit me like an elbow to the chest. As wind left my body I felt my eyes opened to a different perspective. From this sadness I can learn and for that I thank you so much.

[Valentine]

This is one of your best writes. It hits the reader right in the heart, and brings personal thoughts to them of their own lives and trials. I loved this and it had better not be your final muse. There are hundreds more where that thought came from..Valentine

[roarke]

Many, many people come to a moment like this. For me I find it a spur to motion. As long as we can think and move, there's always more. If the muse is gone at the end of one journey, I suspect it means she's started another. At the end of this piece, the narrator comes to an important discovery, I wonder if he'll act upon it.

[ANTO]

"For whitecaps out in the ocean still
Were rolling in to the shore,
Just like they had on another day,
Just like they’d done before." - a brilliant analogy for infinity David - Life was here before us and will be here after we shuffle off this mortal coil.

The penultimate stanza recalled the words of the song "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens, as he was known then.

I was minded of Sinatra when I read this - 'Regrets I had a few, but then again too few to mention' and I have ALWAYS been sceptical of that line - we all have regrets in spades.

A really deeply evocative and contemplative poem my friend.
A great poem.

[Jane Winters Rogers]

So very tenderly almost gently written. Yet the raw truth of this piece brings forth in the readers mind their life story as well. especially when one is old....once again tears were on my cheeks when I finished reading your words....I think you are a great Poet....I think you are brave...thank you for sharing with all of us.

[Woody]

poignant. it must be terrifying when one comes to the end of the road and looks around to realise everyone's flown away.
brilliant. but it's a proven fact, David, you can't be anything less even if you try.

[Barbz]

So sad that one could live a life with so many regrets, and sadder, yet, to think that nobody really cares. A wistful tale.....You tell it well, you always do. Thank you, D.L.Paget...We look forward to More. Barbz

[Zahra]

Well penned David, really touching. You leave great impact without using flowery language.