~ by Charles A. Coulombe

The old man’s eyes of flashing blue
twinkled as he stirred our stew.
“Never have you seen such as then,
when the comet came in Nineteen-ten.”

“The tail lit up the sky at night,
it was hard to believe it could be so bright.
We spoke of it often in the years before
the end of our world in the first great war.”

“Oh, such marvelous times we had,
such wondrous things to make us glad.
A waltz, white tied, after dark,
once I saw the Emperor in the park.”

“All things progress, was our dream
which ended rudely in ‘fourteen’.
For years, I worked in the same department
and as reward I’ve this apartment.”

“This time the comet won’t be so bright,
it cannot pierce our modern night.”

Image Credit: Original art by Author