Beyond

 

This poem has to do with the unbelievable situation many of us seem to find ourselves in, where up is down and left is right, where very little in life is predictable or easy. We find we are wide awake, but we cannot believe what we are seeing.

The expression “Beyond the Pale” in everyday speech means: outside the bounds of morally acceptable and civil behavior. 

But apparently the Pale originally referred to the fence stakes of a community’s boundary fence, which kept those inside safe, and those outside, out. 

The Pale also refers to an area in Ireland that was controlled by the English to the exclusion of many of the Irish, and to the Pale of Settlement in Russia, under Catherine the Great, which was the western border region in which Jews were allowed to live.   The expression “Beyond the Pale,” taken literally, denotes the physical area, in which outsiders or undesirables are tolerated, or allowed to exist, well beyond the safety zone of the insiders. 

Of course, history shows us, that things do not always go well, for those who are excluded. 

I also find that this poem reads well, as a description of the outrage we feel, as we age, and are inevitably replaced, by those whom we consider our inferiors.

Thank you for coming by to read!

 

Beyond

Beyond

Beyond

The Pale:

We would

Succeed.

Instead

We fail.

 

Those who

Would help us

Do

Us harm.

Those who’d

Protect,

Instead,

Disarm.

 

Beyond

Beyond

Beyond

The Pale:

We travel

Over

Hill

And dale,

 

And once

The hill

Is out

Of mind,

We find,

We, too,

Are left

Behind.

 

Beyond

Beyond

Beyond

The Pale:

We can’t

Believe

That change

Prevails.

 

While

Whipper

Snappers

Take command,

Beyond

The Pale

Is Where

We stand.

 

Copyright 2020 Andrea LeDew

 

For another fanciful  poem on being wrenched from the ones you love and the places you care about, read Bombay Deco.

For more political posturing, see Sixty Days.