Rich Man Vs. Ghost....[religion; Humor] Poem by Bri Edwards

Rich Man Vs. Ghost....[religion; Humor]

Rating: 4.3


[the following is an account of the confrontation one evening between an honest rich man, call him 'Rich Man', and a mystery figure, call him 'Ghost', who appeared unannounced and asked Rich Man why he had no wife or children. I guess, in rereading the poem, that the Rich Man was/is a Scientologist! i have altered the poem to reflect that.]

honest 'Rich Man':

'Oh mystery guest, I care not to breed;
time's too valuable to sow my ‘seed'.
Money's my own evil, like cotton has its weevil.
All I really care about is greed.'


'Rich Man' is warned:

'All money you can save you can take to your grave,
but in Hell you'll still be scorched toast.'


Rich Man thinks:

ooh! scary ghost (NOT) !


Rich Man to Ghost:

'You're not so clever.
You'll find I have no panic lever.
L. R. Hubbard did say 'rich men, live for today.
Scientologists live forever'.'


Ghost retorts:

'I have discovered what became of your L. Ron Hubbard.
He told a mighty tale, but his beliefs did fail....
.... to keep him out of the Devil's cupboard.'


Rich Man responds to Ghost's retort:

'I believe you're a liar. I think your tail will be on fire.
I would not hire you... to fix the sole of my shoe, ...
let alone 'my Soul'. You conspire! ! '


Ghost gives up! (almost) :

At that the poor ghost his head did scratch,
thinking, perhaps, he'd met his match.
Then he saw the TV. He put on channel 666,
and Hubbard's broadcast, from Hell, they did catch.


thankful (soon-to-be-formerly-rich) Rich Man to Ghost:

'Ghost, I NOW DO believe you indeed! !
You can leave now on your steed.
But first take my money and bring me a ‘honey',
for I find I'm overdue to breed! ! '

(1-22-2006)

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
I liked the story A Christmas Carol with Scrooge and the ghosts. i don't believe in Hell. I had a small introduction to Scientology in college almost 50 years ago. I like a good argument. I like to be silly. I guess for all those reasons the poem fell out of my head. But I did not want the main character to be named Scrooge, so I just made him the 'Rich Man'. I believe 'scrooge' refers to a stingy person. By the way I don't claim to indict Scientology or it's founder L. Ron Hubbard.

i just reviewed (August 2013) and edited this poem in anticipation of suggesting it for one of my poemhunter friends to read. WOW! i found so many things (mostly small) which i changed. one thing was changing apostrophes to quotation marks to denote conversation between Rich Man and Ghost. [i'm really suspicious that poemhunter changed my quotation marks to apostrophes. hmmm? ]
but i also noticed that i had somehow use the name 'scrooge' instead of, or in addition to, the name 'rich man'/Rich Man, even though i had said i wasn't doing that. how did THAT happen? ? ? ?
i also added the introduction found within [...]s.
AND i changed channel 'three' to channel '666', the so-called 'mark of the beast (or Devil) '.

bri
COMMENTS OF THE POEM

Good one, Bri. There is a ‘Rich Man' and a ‘Ghost" (with a tail, of course) in every man. Enjoyed the humour.

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 27 January 2024

I guess thia poem HASN'T BEEN A 'Member Poem of the Day'.....yet! ! ! Come on, PH, be brave! ! Anyway, today I've sent it to a few of my non-PH friends. : ) bri

0 0 Reply
Tom Allport 25 August 2018

Brilliant write that just might be right for all the rich people like yourself Bri? But first give me your money and then go and try to find some honey (good luck there) near impossible when your broke!

0 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 11 August 2013

OK, THIS IS DEFINITELY BETTER, in my (the author's) humble opinion. i see the quotation marks got changed AGAIN to apostrophes. bri :) august 2013.

0 0 Reply
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Bri Edwards

Bri Edwards

Earth, i believe
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