The Man from a Distant Star

He was standing out on the balcony

While the party raged inside,

I’d had enough of the trivial talk,

Boosting each other’s pride,

I went and I stood some feet away

As he stared up at the stars,

‘Your sky is rather ordinary,

Not in the least like ours!’

 

I managed a double take at that

I’d noticed him once before,

He seemed to be on his own, and lonely

Sad, and a bit unsure,

He watched the girls in their party clothes

As they laughed, and talked and sighed,

‘Our Evrons never would dress like that

The colours would hurt their eyes.’

 

I laughed, thought he was having me on

But he didn’t even smile,

‘I shouldn’t have jumped the Interspace

But stuck with the Stellar Mile,

They said to avoid the Milky Way

But me, I jumped the gun,

The only reason they’d come this way

Is to dump, on the Garbage Run.’

 

‘I think you’re a little eccentric, and

You’re maybe a little drunk,

You don’t look much like an alien,

And aliens, well, they’re bunk!

But now you’re going to tell me you’re

A little green man from Mars!’

‘Oh, much, much further than that,’ he said

‘I come from a distant star.’

 

‘Oh yes,’ I said, just to humour him

But a chill crept up my spine,

He seemed so positive, standing there

A man from another time.

‘So tell me, what is so different to

The place that you call your home.’

He offered the piece de resistance then,

‘We live in an Astrodome.’

 

‘The air surrounding planet Vair

Has become too thin to breathe,

Since ever the trees and lipids died

And we found that we couldn’t leave.

The planet was raped and plundered

For a million years or so,

And now it’s a dying shell we need

To find some planet to go.’

 

‘I think that I may have found it, though

Your culture’s such a bore,

You worship all material things

And your planet’s still at war,

We’ll have to thin out your people and

Improve your planet’s race,

You’re going to have to move over when

We come from outer space.’

 

‘How many of you are here right now?’

I tried to sound surprised,

He said, ‘I’m travelling on my own,’

And I looked into his eyes,

‘So none of your people know we’re here

Until you decide to tell!’

He turned to me, and he shook his head,

I said, ‘That’s just as well.’

 

I walked him around the garden and

I picked his brains for hours,

He told me about their laser rays

And their telepathic powers,

Then finally when he asked my leave

And buttoned up his coat,

I stabbed him with some garden shears

Leant down, and cut his throat!

 

David Lewis Paget

 

Reviews

[quinfinn]

well, i have to say that this was quite the engaging write...a theme i am not unfamiliar with, in fact, i come from a planet in the same solar system as Vair. and that was bloody rude an end for a casual visitor. i suppose now i'll have to notify the mother ship that the indigenous species of this planet is being decimated by a race known as humankind, and that they are extremely hostile.....awesome write, David. i hope my race doesn't eliminate all of you. i shall ask them to preserve your poetry at the very least. we quite like poetry!

[Lena M. P.]

Not as smart as he thought hey?? Took a dumb human being to fool the spaceman. Oh how I love your poems. This one even holds the hint of warning that we could end up the same way if we don't curb our destruction of our own planet. Nicely done as always,

[Clayton Bardwell]

Atta boy David! Damn foreigners.

[Veronica Chandler]

You got me again...hook line and sinker, you sly devil you. This one flowed like silk of my tongue and had perfect rhythmic flow. The story line captivated me; you drew me right in with your clever verses, and then you stabbed the character and slit his throat. I suppose given the story line I might have made the same choice. Brilliant write.