What Would Mr. Serling Say? & There Was A Time And A Man There

If he could hear these comments
on PA Street today
of a time where he did reign
as king of chill-time entertain
Waking us from ignorance
Walking us through possibilities
awake enlivened which most
preferred to keep asleep
What would Mr. Serling say
if he could hear us all today
walking the crowded streets of PA
I think he would enjoy the comraderie
Diverse voices joined as one
Speaking often to injustice done
The streets of Serling often cold
The topics faced stark and bold
A "newmarred" creature cool
invited room for one more to one who thought he could fool
the dark side that lurked within one and all
and cast upon the aching possibility of peace a death mask pall
streets often emptied of all connection
folks in pairs or alone wandered seeking direction
often wasting the present in chasing future gain
or in a quick reverse sometimes wasting the present
wallowing in past pain
sometimes in the zone we for it was we
all of us were watched and studied with wonder or disdain
either by scientists from another land
or the substance of our very existence diminished as rag-dolls
in a huge child's hand
there were trains aplenty riding in the Zone
and much rushing and frantic searching for a telephone
Altered worlds where waking could be in a foreign state
alone in the land beyond Earth's atmosphere or trapped in
a new inner stratosphere
What would Mr. Serling say
if he could wander the PA streets of today
More than likely he'd be saddened to see
that tales of neighbor turning on "the other"
were still as common as the innocents love of a mother
More than likely he'd be buoyed by the fact that we
were all still here
and were not all floating fragments in some nuclear
catastrophic sphere
He'd probably not be too surprised at
polar ice caps crumble
or the black creeping in clear waters
as the economy continues to tumble
More than likely he would be cheered
to see a President of a different hue
And again more than likely sadly unsurprised that this
disgusted more than just a few
I know not of course what
Mr. Serling would actually say
If he could visit with us on
PA Street today
A gentle hopeful man with brilliant
words weaving a vibrant cautionary tale
of the cold desperate
world in which we'd live and die alone
in a civilization destroyed by simple
greed and the darkest corners human nature
at its worst - that terror that could be
wrought by each and all together in this
the Twilight Zone



Dedicated to  Mr. Rod Serling who still sparkles with unparalleled light - gleaming through with the vision of the possibility for mankind and an optimism for a future of plenty and peace as he stands crossed armed with so many of us tonight gazing upon us with that slight wise smile from The Twilight Zone.....

*****

There was a time and a man there...

There was a time and
a man there
who believed writing
inspired care
There was a time and
a man there
who reached past the
the darkness of the human heart
tales of humanity to impart
There was a time and
a man there
bringing tales
chilling marrow cold
There was a a time
and a man there
who pleaded injustice
(intolerance, ignorance,
short-sightedness, greed)
all atone
Looking out at us
from the screen
catching all our eye
entering our dreams
believing
in light beyond the
Twinkling Twilight Zone

Dedicated to all who remember or now are curious
about the brilliant Rod Serling and the incredibly moral world
for which he grasped and advocated in The Twilight Zone....