Fable of the Many Man

Fable of the Many Man
Seen everywhere and everything
As far back as Before Christ
Near and present In the Year of Our Lord
Held in his palms the confidence and ability
To become someone and no one
The polestar for his subsistence
Welcoming and lonesome all the same
This is the Many Man

A lifetime later he looks back at his exploits
The patchwork of all the heavy lifting by heavyweights remains visible in those hammer-looking deltoids
Left untainted by the accursed muscle sap called steroids
Only through graft and sweat were these remnants of Adonis’ genes sculpted
Reminders of this burnished body marred by the presence of keloids
His journey lives and dies as a compilation of near-death and picture-perfect polaroids

Fable of the Many Man
Seen everywhere and everything
As far back as Before Christ
Near and present In the Year of Our Lord
Held in his palms the confidence and ability
To become someone and no one
The polestar for his subsistence
Welcoming and lonesome all the same
This is the Many Man

Copied and lived the many walks ever named
Throughout Tempus’ rising and dying wonders
To its beckoning yonders
Just to add meaning to being
Never once distraught when he was shamed
Never once faltered when stirred in the condiment of pain for his labours
All he envisioned was how he could churn that feeling into believing

Fable of the Many Man
Seen everywhere and everything
As far back as Before Christ
Near and present In the Year of Our Lord
Held in his palms the confidence and ability
To become someone and no one
The polestar for his subsistence
Welcoming and lonesome all the same
This is the Many Man

From the sands of his time
Shows a vista of a life of slavery in Constantinople
It echoed tales of a healer who helped the Byzantines
Same people who pillaged and brought into captivity his people
He led with kindness towards his adversary
Taught in love for his kinsmen and brotherhood
And voyaged wholeheartedly into godhood
Forever immortalised in the hearts of both friend and foe
In the icy lands decorated with icebergs and igloos
He lived and led the way as a Chief warrior for his folk
Singlehandedly faced and warded off the terror of the icy demon spoken of in his culture
A nighttime melody of courage and bravery sang to put the little Inuits to sleep and instil hope for the future

Fable of the Many Man
Seen everywhere and everything
As far back as Before Christ
Near and present In the Year of Our Lord
Held in his palms the confidence and ability
To become someone and no one
The polestar for his subsistence
Welcoming and lonesome all the same
This is the Many Man

All he could hear were the wails of young and unassuming men
From his unit, he could only count ten
By nightfall, the racket from ordnance hitting and blood spurting
Morphed into a slow yet silent waltz on the Rhine
Never thought he would look so gaunt and soulless thirsting for home’s bed and wine
It was only months ago when he regularly shovelled dung from his farmhouse’s bovine.

Fable of the Many Man
Seen everywhere and everything
As far back as Before Christ
Near and present In the Year of Our Lord
Held in his palms the confidence and ability
To become someone and no one
The polestar for his subsistence
Welcoming and lonesome all the same
This is the Many Man

Now he bides his time waiting for his end
Sitting in a pool beautified by the petals from a tree Nestled deep in a sacred fortress resembling Storm’s end
An oddity that unfailingly confounds and leaves one a bellend
Once in a while, there are whispers of a tale in this fable
These hushed incantations are call signs for his appearance
Ironically likened to a sonorous piece played out of a harmonica owned by a farm hand lounging on gathered hay in the stable
Buzzing and humming away daily in his straw hat towards a joy only special to him
Hitting notes that come to him by chance
Some of which can invoke in your person the Yiddish message ‘Shalom Aleichem’

Fable of the Many Man
Seen everywhere and everything
As far back as Before Christ
Near and present In the Year of Our Lord
Held in his palms the confidence and ability
To become someone and no one
The polestar for his subsistence
Welcoming and lonesome all the same
This is the Many Man