Topsy Turvy Poem by David Lewis Paget

Samantha worked in the Take-away
Right next to the Coalpit Mine,
With a cheery smile for everyone
Til the day that her eyes went blind.
One minute she served up fish and fries
Then her world went eerie and dark,
‘Has the sun gone suddenly down, ’ she said,
‘Behind the trees in the park? ’

They called me back from my p.m. shift
For they knew that we two were close,
She’d dated some other miners too
But she’d gone with me the most.
‘You’d better get her on home, ’ they said,
‘There’s something wrong with her eyes, ’
She stared in a peculiar way
With a vacant look of surprise.

The doctor said there was nothing wrong,
Or nothing that he could see,
‘It must be something psychological, ’
That’s what he said to me.
He flashed a light in each of her eyes
But she didn’t even wince,
I must admit, it troubled me less
Than events that happened since.

I said perhaps we should get engaged
Rather than take it slow,
I’d be her eyes and a steady guide
Wherever she’d need to go,
She smiled that wonderful smile at me
And said, ‘You need to be sure,
You’re tying yourself to an invalid
Who can’t venture out the door.’

We bought the ring at a jeweller’s shop
Where she chose the ring by feel,
A tiny diamond, glittered and shone,
She asked if the stone was real.
We laughed as I guided her back home
And she clung on tight to my arm,
I swore that I would protect her then,
And stop her coming to harm.

A week went by, and I took my leave
From the dirt and dust of the mine,
We laughed and loved and said together
That things would work out fine,
But then I noticed a subtle change
In the way that the house was laid,
The rooms seemed somewhat bigger than ever
The architects had made.

The chairs and tables would move about
From one day to the next,
I asked Samantha what she had done
And she answered, ‘Nothing yet! ’
She didn’t trip and she didn’t fall
As I did, the fault was mine,
I had two eyes but I couldn’t gauge
The depths of Samantha’s mind.

She said she had to rebuild her world,
Recall from her memory,
And if it wasn’t exactly right
It wouldn’t matter to me.
‘You have two eyes, you can navigate,
While I’m still trapped in the dark,
I still remember that day of fate
When the sun blinked out in the park.’

We opened the door to venture out
And I blinked, and gave a grunt,
The supermarket was on the right
With everything back to front.
‘The mine was off in the east, ’ I said,
‘But now it’s off to the west.’
Samantha shrugged, ‘Does it matter now?
You’ll see, it’s all for the best.’

She walked as if she had perfect sight,
While I just followed behind,
My head was spinning in horror at
Each different thing that we’d find.
And people stood, and stared in the street
As if in a total daze,
They turned and twisted and took it in
This mirror glimpse of their ways.

‘You have to set it to rights, ’ I said,
‘You have to turn it around.
The people here will be going mad
At what you’ve done to their town! ’
‘They’ll have to adjust, ’ Samantha shrugged
As she went to step off the kerb,
Just as a double-decker bus
Came round the corner and swerved.

‘The road was suddenly back to front, ’
The driver said, as he cried,
‘I had to get back over the line, ’
He said, as Samantha died.
We live in a topsy-turvy world
In thrall to the power of mind,
When anything can that happen will…
(I hope I never go blind!)

25 May 2014