Waiting for Something to Happen
By John Herlihy

I
I am waiting for something to happen;
I cannot tell you what.
I go about my business,
Feeling as if I have fallen into a rut.
I go through my routine day in, day out;
Everything I do just puts me into a pout;
Everyone around me are just sizzling,
Their smart phones are buzzing and pinging.
With every touch of the finger something thrilling,
While I sit on the street corner in scruffy shoes,
Counting misery after misery in ones and twos,
Hoping someone will call me on my Nokia.

II
When lo I see on the distant horizon,
Faint light with a mysterious glow.
It is moving ever so much closer,
Before long it will be close enough to touch.
At first I thought it a space ship,
Cigar-shaped and moving very slow,
Hovering would be a better word,
And yes emitting a vague, mysterious glow;
But there was no physical presence,
No shining metal with a hatch-like door,
More like a ghost really, floating above the floor,
Half expecting it to accuse me of being a bore.

III
I sat back and let it all happen,
Just sitting there in wonder hoping to get crackin’.
The flashing light needed the support of some thunder,
And thunder there was, tearing everything asunder.
The world seemed to be rolling up like an ancient scroll;
The history of multitudes of famous people no longer told.
The streets caved in and the buildings fell down,
And it all happened in a flash without making a sound.
All the technologies of the world couldn’t prevent
The melting of all those smart phones leaving a bad scent.
When all of a sudden, I awoke from my dream,
A goatherd counting sheep, waiting for something to happen.