The Gutter Sage

On the stage he was a natural– famed and famous

But he had grown tired of the emptiness of the talk

What then, he often asked,

Are sounds like these

the proper peace of mind?

Their short-lived jubilee; mutual murmurs urge the slow disease

On the stage he was a natural– famed and famous

‘Twas only when he was off it he was acting

He set off on his way to the theater

Two paths; split

In the neighboring street he saw a man

asleep

“Up, man!” cried he

“When your journey’s over

and you’re home in bed

There’ll be enough time to sleep!”

The sleeper replied,

“I have learned the mark of a man,”

What skill! thought he, What farce divine!

“What is the mark of a man, oh gutter sage?

If it was worth knowing, it’d been known by now

If the world was worth winning, it’d be won by now,”

“When in disgrace with Fortune in men’s eyes,

you alone weep at my outcast state,” said the sage.

What skill! thought he, What farce divine!

“I am always acting off stage instead of on it,”

said he, oblivious,

“How dull, how unjust, it is to pause living!

Pleased and blessed is God alone.”

Weak, he bowed his head with a sigh.

“When you sigh, young man

you sigh not the air, but sigh my very soul away,”

What skill! thought he, What farce divine!

“You solicit me in vain, old man

Why? You silken son of Pleasure!

To Shock me more?

You False God! You False Hope!

Is this your mark of a man?”

“Sweat ran red and blood sprang out

and I was never sorry.

They clothed me in the clothes of death

So strange, so sad, the days that are no more.”

What skill! thought He, What farce Divine!

“From this moment on

have no Self ~ One truth is clear:

I have learned the mark of a Man.

Now, Recover your sigh-blown youth!”

And he regained his freedom with a sigh.

-Skylar Alexander

Commentary:

This was a poem I wrote my sophomore year for an assignment. We were to read twenty five different poems and chose one line from each, and after extreme tweaking, create a poem of our own. Mine was a bit more than twenty-five lines, but earned an A regardless. It's supposed to be about a man who meets a man who appears to be nothing but a beggar, but truly speaks with the wisdom of God. Or something.