The epiphany came during a day at the cinema.

Not like the one in which the iron nearly hissed

and spewed out all manner of expletives

as I realised that I had escaped and was now safe,

nor the one behind the bar

one evening as the slops of Guinness,

the foam of a wasted pint

and the mix of running tap water

congealed to make tar like mess,

the unfiltered keyboard with all the letters missing,

as I realised to be free, first I had to walk out the door…

 

…no, this was the manifestation of what had been,

that arrogance and pride were permissible

if you were truly humble

and if the work in which the arrogance came

was one that was born of being the best around.

 

I was once the best at what I did

and the film showed me that

and the heat of a thousand conflicts between man

and stove were missed.

 

Should I have come back from across the ocean?

For you most certainly,

for everything else in between I’m not so sure

but then life would have been so terribly different

and the message that was relayed

via a film,

would have been ignored and unseen.

 

Ian D. Hall 2015