A POEM by Paul Curtis,
BASED ON THE STORY by
Charles Dickens “A
CHRISTMAS CAROL”
VERSE 1 – THE PHANTOM
OF THE FUTURE
The Phantom approached
slowly, gravely, silently
When it came, Scrooge
bent down upon his knee
For the very air which
this spirit moved through
It seemed to scatter
gloom and mystery in his view
The phantom was
shrouded in a deep black uniform
Which concealed its
head and face its limbs and form
And left nothing
visible save one outstretched hand
Scrooge managed to summon
up the courage to stand
It was not easy to
separate the figure from the night
By the virtue that it
was surrounded by a lack of light
Though it was tall and
stately fear filled Scrooge’s head
And the presence of it
filled him with a solemn dread
Surprisingly it was a
very motionless and silent spirit
And reluctantly
Scrooge was prompted to question it
“Are you the Ghost of
Christmas Yet to Come?” he said
The Spirit did not
answer, but nodded with its head
“You will show me
things that have not happened yet,
But will happen in the
time before us, is that so, Spirit?”
The slightest movement
of its head could be perceived
An inclination was the
only answer Scrooge received
Although by this time
well used to ghostly company
Scrooge feared the dark
and silent phantom greatly
So much so that his
legs trembled beneath his body
And when he prepared
to follow it his steps were heavy
Scrooge exclaimed, “I
fear you Ghost of the Future!”
More than any spirit I
have seen more than any specter
But as I know spirit
that to do me good is your plan
And as I hope to live
my life and to be another man
From what I was, I am
prepared to bear you company,
And do it with a
thankful heart. Will you not speak to me?”
It gave him no reply.
The hand pointed straight on
“Lead on spirit,” said
Scrooge tiredly. “Just Lead on.
The night is waning
fast, and it is precious time to me,
So lead on” The
Phantom moved off effortlessly
VERSE 2 – THE PLACE OF
MERCHANT’S
The phantom’s shadow seemed
to carry Scrooge along
Then suddenly they
were in amongst the city’s throng
They didn’t enter it
they just seemed to enter the city
The city actually
sprang up about them in reality
But they were in its
heart amongst the merchants
With the chinking of
money and mongers chants
The Spirit stopped
beside a knot of businessmen
They were known to
Scrooge who’d met them often
Observing the spirit
stop Scrooge halted his walk
The spirit pointed so
Scrooge listened to their talk.
“No,” said a great fat
man with an even fatter head,
“I don't know much
about it, I only know he's dead.”
“When did he die?”
inquired another. “Last night”
The general tone was
not at all grave but rather light
“What was the matter
with him?” asked a third,
“I thought he'd never
die.” Not even a little absurd
“God knows,” said the
first, yawning in assent
“What about his
money?” asked a red-faced gent
“I haven't heard,
perhaps he left it to his company”
He said “All I know is
that he hasn't left it to me.”
They responded with a
laugh to this pleasantry
“It will be a very
cheap funeral more than likely,”
Said the same speaker
“For on my life I don't know
Of anybody who knew
him who would want to go,
I suppose we could
make up a party and volunteer?”
“Only if a lunch is provided,”
said one with a sneer
And then another laugh
echoed around the mall
“Well, I am the most
disinterested of you, after all,”
Said the first
speaker, “I never ever eat lunch and
Black gloves are never
ever seen upon my hand
But I will offer to go,
if somebody else will also
I think I was his most
particular friend you know”
With that the group
broke up going separate ways
And the speakers and
the listeners strolled away
To mix with other
groups. Scrooge knew the men
And looked towards the
Spirit for some explanation
The Phantom did not
speak yet glided on to a street
Its finger pointed to
where two persons would meet
Scrooge listened,
thinking it maybe the explanation
He knew these men who
were now in conversation
They were great men of
business and very wealthy
Of great importance
and of good opinion worthy
Scrooge made a point
of standing well in their esteem
But only in a business
point of view it would seem
“How are you?” said
one of the men “How are you?”
Returned the other.
“Well!” said the first to be true
“Well Old Scratch has
got his own at last, then hey.”
“So I’m told,”
returned the second. “And so they say”
“Cold, isn't it?” Said
the first of the business men
“Seasonable for
Christmas. Do you like skating”?
“No. No. Something
else to think of. Good morning.”
Not another word was
said, that was their meeting,
That was their
conversation, and then their parting.
Scrooge was surprised
the Spirit thought important
Conversations
apparently so trivial and insignificant
But feeling assured
they must have some relevancy
He set himself to
consider what it was likely to be
He reasoned they had
no bearing on Marley’s demise
Jacob died in the past
so he didn’t see how it applies
He could not think of
any person connected to him
And was at a loss to
explain what had provoked them
But he did not doubt
there was in the scenes content
Some moral to be
learned for his own improvement
He resolved to
treasure what he saw and every word
And to observe his
shadow and act on what he heard
For he decided that
the conduct of his future entity
Would render him the
solution of these riddles easy
He looked about the
merchants for his own figure
But another man stood
in his corner in the future
But before the
significance of this could sink in
The phantom stood
beside him its hand pointing
When he roused himself
from his thoughtful quest
And turned his full
attention to his phantom guest
He felt the unseen
eyes were looking at him keenly
It made him shudder,
and feel very cold suddenly
They left the busy
scene both familiar and renowned
And went instantly
into an obscure part of the town
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