the old green door

 

Last year while in St Ives

A seaside town where sunshine thrives,

Walking through with my wife,

I found a door which changed my life.

The door was old and painted green

Many summers it had seen.

In the centre of the town

I saw the door, so rundown.

I ventured forth and was impelled

To walk right through and there beheld

A brand-new world of different sorts

‘Twas nothing like what I’d been taught

Same Cornish streets, and tourist stalls,

But something different overall.

In this new world rules were reversed

Bad was good, it was perverse.

I wandered round and came upon

A child aged ten whose name was Jon

And as with him I did converse

I realised that this place was cursed.

I needed to adapt my stance

If I was to stand a chance

A stratagem I must contrive 

To just get by and to survive.

For folk in St Ives, behind the door,

Were well different from before.

Here the focus was not on good

But how to rule the neighbourhood

Grabbing stuff without a thought

Of what it meant or who it hurt.

The more you took, the more your dough

The more your status it did grow.

Do-gooders and the friendly folk

Were despised, just one huge joke.

Criminals on the other hand

Ruled the roost and the land.

Being bad was seen as success,

Being good just meant distress.

I stayed in that place for seven hours

A hell on earth, all was soured.

Just people taking what they could

And subjugating all that’s good.

Before I left I said to Jon

What would you like to become?

The boss of all, the number one,

Was his reply, to take and have everything

Without a care what hardships bring

To other folk or family

To have it all, just for me.

Returning through that old green door

I look back today not wanting more

But happy now just to start

In the world to play my part

In making it a better place

For the entire human race.