Appointments in Samarra
I meet the very best of men, too late,
At their very end,
I meet the kindest women, small and great,
As they unblend.
I also meet the very worst,
But even they become un-cursed –
I find a goodness in them all,
My temporary friends.
I couldn’t say what sends them on their way –
Biology or fate –
Who knows what dividends await ?
I’ve lost track of the holy text.
I only get to spend a minute or two,
To take them by the hand,
And help them pass on through
To whatever land shall be their next.
I meet the very best of folk,
And always just in time,
For one last breath, for one more joke,
Before they quit their prime.
I know not why it has to be,
Their sand runs out so fast –
But what an honour it is for me
To meet with you at last.
The title is a nod to William Maugham’s 1933 play Sheppey which, besides from being a rare celebration of working class life in pre-war Britain, also popularied an old Arabian story. It’s so well told that it’s a shame to have to point out the absolutely zombified worldof Predestinationit implies.
Sheppeyhas always interested me for making me aware of British plays that celebrate working class life long before John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger. I’ve since also dicovered Howard Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice(1915), Githa Sowerby’s Rutherford & Son, and Stanley Houghton’s Hindle Wakes(both 1912). The latter is particularly fascinating for showing a young woman who spends a dirty weekend with the boss’s son, refuses to marry him, and shows no remorse and receives no come-uppance. I wonder if its being set in the North helped it slip past the Lord Chamberlain ?
Rhyming Couplets 