Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Robinson Crusoe: Epilogue

When the celebrations and warm welcomes and newspaper headlines had come and gone, and Robinson and Friday once again 

sat alone by the fire at night

what did they talk about?


Did they hear a small argument through the thin walls -

a mother gently imploring her daughter to find a new suitor - 

and think how beautiful the sound of it was? 


Or was it that moment when Friday mentioned that he missed it when it was just
the two of them?


How often did Robinson walk to his job and remember

that the sound

of newspaper boys, horses’ hooves, street vendors and church bells

weren’t all there was to this world?


As time went by, did he sometimes forget that 

there was

more?


When the meals with appetizers, chats with colleagues, disagreements with clients, jokes at the tavern

consumed his day

Did Robinson sometimes realize that he hadn’t 

once 

thought 

about the island?


When he no longer thought of mending the goat enclosure

And he no longer worried about when he would find the next skull left by the cannibals,

did he sometimes wonder how

paying the landlord and getting a good price on eggs

had come to completely overtake his thoughts?


When Friday reminisced about the quiet of the sea breeze and the smell of roasting goat meat as the Milky Way circled above, 

did Robinson say, 

“It’s not here,

not now,

old friend.”


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