Once upon a time, they say
Something did happen.
Whatever that was, it was worth telling.
The spoken word, those 'fairy' tales were news.
Storytellers were salesmen selling
A truth, a lie, gossip mixed with fantasy
A warning or thought-out idea.
They were not aware, didn't care
About how their words affected
Corrected people's behaviour.
Making people believe is easy.
All you need to do is tell something new,
Trigger the imagination or better spread fear.
Say for example the end of the world is near.
Imagine you live in a small community
where never ever anything happens.
Each day is the same.
Life is a struggle without fun, without fame.
There's no internet, phone, radio or tv
Trust me, in that case, the storyteller is more than welcome.
As he arrived the entire village hurried,
Gathered to hear
Young and old listened till the end
Of the story told by that man,
A person who travels.
Today we all travel.
If not in person we can do so with help of a book, a magazine, the tv
Internet or a movie.
We watch and meet different people, and see
Animals like the blue bee
On our screen.
We watch sometimes read.
We even believe
We can help feed
Those on the other part of the planet.
We feel great but by doing that
We forget
Those living
Suffering
Next door.
Once upon a time, we might have cared
Shared
But these days are definitely gone.
Those close communities are done.
No one needs a storyteller today
We rather stay
Inside, glued to the screen, gaming online
Stating we have no time
To interact in real life with others.
Because in reality we envy or hate
Or we are afraid of our fellow humans
Plus... we all can spread the 'news' ourselves.
A Merry Christmas
23-12-2023
The photo was taken by me.