THE FINAL WITNESS © Elwood Herring 1978 revised 1993
(Inspired by "The Stochastic Man" by Robert Silverberg)
Elwood's Home Page
"I can give you sight"
Said the blind man
"I can show you how to see your future;
I can make you see
Many things you've never dreamed,
But you don't really need me as your tutor."
What will I see?
What will I see?
"You'll see the one thing that you thought
Would never come to you -
You'll see your unexpected reckoning:
And from that moment forth
You'll find what life's really worth,
From that moment on your life
Won't mean a thing.
Like an actor in a play
You're condemmed to go that way;
No-one can amend the playwright's script.
You'll live your life so bland
Taking things that come to hand,
Until the moment you cease to exist."
What will I see?
What will I see?
Will I see an arc of sunlight
In a rhythmic flashing sky?
Will I see young friendly faces
Crumple, wither, by and by?
Would I look upon the graves of those
On which I would rely
To see me through the ages
Which we all should blindly fly?
What will I see?
What will I see?
Could I acknowledge all the glories
Of the Human Race to be;
In a future all too distant to perceive?
Will Mankind's lofty vision scrape the acme of success,
Then implode when its ambition is deceived?
Could I see the crystal images
Of a shattered war-torn land?
Could I see the broken promises
In ruins on the sand?
If I wander through the memories
Of a future yet unplanned
Is it all the same as what I've seen
As on this earth I stand?
What could I see?
What could I see?
Could I infiltrate the minds of people yet to walk the earth?
Could I watch the stars revolving in their courses?
Could I witness all the galaxies collide with reckless mirth
Or even view the final cataclysmic forces?
What could I see?
What would I see?
"Here's what you'll see:
Just a dim translucent picture
Of a dim depressing life;
A hollowed-out impression in the sand.
You should have known a gift like that
Would cut you like a knife
When you asked to see
What is to be
And hold it in your hands."
Only my life ahead of me
A knowledge of my pain I see
Just a few dark tomorrows
A handful of twisted sorrows
How can I live
The life I have left
I've seen the pain
of my own death
that's what i see
that's all
i
see