The Fortune Teller Poem by David Lewis Paget

He entered the Fortune Teller's tent
When nobody was around,
He didn't want to be seen in there
By the friends that would put him down,
The woman that sat there, heavily veiled
With her hands on a crystal ball,
Said: ‘Cross my palm with silver, sir,
The crystal reveals it all! '

He sat, but nervously sitting there
His mind had become a blank,
All of the questions he'd thought before
Had gone, and his spirits sank.
‘I see a lot of confusion here
The crystal echoes your mind,
What was the thing that you wanted most
Of the things that you sought to find? '

He dredged in the recess of his soul,
Just what did he really lack?
His life had been more than successful
There was nothing that he'd take back,
But he felt an awful ache just then
From the pit of his lonely heart,
‘I still haven't found a woman to love,
So that will do, for a start! '

She waved her hands on the crystal ball
And he noticed the twisting shapes,
Shadows of past liaisons that
Had passed through his garden gates.
‘Perhaps you treat them unfairly
I see tears here by the score,
The women that you rejected, what
On earth were you looking for? '

‘I was looking for love, ' he stammered out,
He could see she wasn't convinced,
‘Love is the one thing left behind
That you haven't revisited since.'
And he thought of June, of Carolyn
And the love that shone from their eyes,
But he'd been so very much younger then
He confessed, and not very wise!

‘They were only poor young village girls,
I'd set my heart on a dream,
I wanted a lady of fashion then
A Duchess, even a Queen! '
‘Do you think that pearls and coronets
Are the signs of a loving heart?
You'd find the cost of upkeeping them
Are the things that set you apart.'

‘There was a girl, ' he began again
That I could have loved with my life, '
He stopped and thought about Carolyn,
‘I should have made her my wife! '
‘I see her, here in the crystal ball
Surrounded by all of your lies,
She loved you once in the wherewithal
But you turned, and cast her aside.'

‘Do you think she'd give me a second chance
If I knocked at the girl's front door,
Would she put out the welcome mat for me,
Or wish that I'd never been born?
I must admit I deserve it, I
Have lived my life like a fool,
The dreams I had were beyond me, I
Regret I was ever so cruel! '

‘The crystal sees you approach her door,
You're getting down on your knees,
It shows you grovelling on the floor
In a vain attempt to please.'
‘I'll do it! She may forgive me then…'
And he left the tent in a spin,
While the Fortune Teller took off her veil
And smiled, did Carolyn!

8 October 2012