When Despair Paid A Visit Poem by William L Roberts

When Despair paid a visit,
I invited him in and asked him to sit.
There was no help for it,
I felt sure some judge'd granted him a warrant.
I offered him a drink.
He said, 'Well, maybe just one.'
So I went in the kitchen to get it.
That's when I made my run,
Out the back and across the lawn.
I stopped in the garden
To wait 'till he was gone.

I thought about my children
And the world they'd live in.
They're grown.
I can no longer protect them.
I thought of growing old and alone.
I knew that Despair had followed.
A rabbit was in the herbs, eating thyme and margaram,
Reflexively I threw a stone.
'When you're gone
The weeds'll take over,
There's no rest or peace in nature.
Besides, the next people,
They'll subdivide or put in a swimming pool.'

I looked at the asparagus,
Dry and lacy with autumn,
We planted it years ago.
Only my mother ever liked it,
But it comes in first every year.
After it the peas and the rush of summer abundance,
Think of the tomato vines hot fragrance!
By late fall, there's only the Brussels sprouts,
No one at all's ever liked them,
I plant it 'cause it's the last.
'Nothing here, ' I said by way of answer,
'Has anything to do with nature,
The seeds're the product of industry and science,
The soil comes from work, compost and fertilizer,
Look at the wire cylinders
Waiting for the fruiting vines of summer.
Then there's the winter planning
And the summer watering, weeding, and debugging.
Begone! I'll take my rest in human things,
Things that rise from thought and care.'
I went back in the house,
Poured wine into a juice glass,
And played the download of an Indie band
(The Broken Social Scene, the only one I like, I confess) .
I turned it up loud and started to dance.
In the morning I went to work
And for a time, like a dope,
I lived with hope.