Robert M. Simmons  

from Morning in Middleborough... (Poems 1991-2006)    

           Merlin’s Revenge

A man’s home is his castle.

So goes the overused expression

that is a wish sometimes fulfilled

even if the palace

is a turn-of-the-century cottage

with weathered shingles, green shutters

and a weeping cherry tree out front.

Once upon a time

there was a man who lived

in just such a house

though sovereign rule did not always extend

beyond the walls.

Every day

he watched from his window

as a neighbor walking by

flicked cigarette filters

onto his neatly trimmed grass.

The nasty little things

would accumulate with amazing speed

and he was required

to rake them up regularly

so his property would not resemble

the town landfill.

As time passed

the man decided to save these wretched objects

in a large lawn and leaf bag

and once it was filled

he sneaked out in the darkness of night

and emptied the entire contents

onto his neighbor’s lawn.

The next morning

when the neighbor saw this great mound

he was amazed and angry.

He waited outside near the pile of filters

until the perpetrator appeared

and asked him

how did these cigarette filters get here?

Magic

was the reply.

The two stood eyeball to eyeball

for a moment

before doing an about-face

and returning to their respective castles.

                               © 2003 by Robert M. Simmons

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Subjects: poetry about, cigarette filters, litter, revenge, small town life, satire, poetry, poems