the first man

Maman sat in the dark
waiting for the end -
Papa the ‘pied-noir’
wouldn’t be returning
from the dead – those silent ones

It makes no difference –

The scent of a flower
or a Woman watching
the crescent moon falling into the ocean
to the windy howls of night –
‘Le vent a Djemila’

we are all strangers in eternity –

An uneasy alliance
between contradiction
and the monkey mind:
the absurdity of meaning –
We make our Gods from
peccadilloes and revenge
to assuage our unbelonging –

The Stars stare mute
at our irreversible mutation –
We each arise from that same solitude
to despair or righteous indignation
to the worlds horrible suffering –

Near Montereau driven
with intense indifference
between misery and the Sun -
a lone tree halts my pain
I, alone, extinguished
Never to return again –

Happy to have been!

‘Do not wait for the last judgement. It takes place every day.’ -- Albert Camus