At Last

All credit to Lyn A. Venable and Rod Serling

Henry Bemis was a gentle soul

He wanted only to read

Books, papers, magazines ~

The printed page filled his need

 

But Henry never had the time

In the bank where he worked all day

At night his wife took over his life,

Her plans stole his leisure away

 

He also had myopia,

Severe nearsightedness

He wore a pair of thick spectacles,

But squinted nonetheless

 

One day while Henry was in the vault

The atom bomb exploded

He woke to utter ruin,

His world broken and eroded

 

Realizing he was all alone

There was no sorrow fated ~

The library was nearby,

And Henry was elated

 

He stumbled over crumbled remains

A starving man at the end of a fast

He smiled and piled up volumes ~

There was time enough at last!

 

Henry had just what he wanted

It seemed the fates had tried

But then he dropped his glasses

 

Poor Henry Bemis cried.    

 

Author's Note

Based on my absolute favorite episode of The Twilight Zone, and the original short story on which it was based. Still tweaking.

Reviews

[Angi]

Magnificent! I have a love of The twilight Zone, too. I saw this episode and you nailed it!

[Rita L. Sev]

Thank you, Angi! I appreciate the read and review!

[Rita L. Sev]

Thank you, Angi! I appreciate the read and review!

[Angi]

It was my pleasure to read this. Really good. I am trying to remember who played Henry. I am gonna check out some more of your stuff.

[Rita L. Sev]

The great Burgess Meredith played Henry Bemis - he was perfect for the role!

[Marie]

Yes I saw this episode...you did a good job of putting it in verse.

[Rita L. Sev]

Thank you, Marie!

[Dhaye]

Poor Henry. He ended with nothing at all.

Nice narrative poem, like Sir David's. :)

[Rita L. Sev]

Thanks, Dhaye!

[Chris]

I remember seeing THAT episode many times... and Burgess Meredith played the part to a "T".

[Rita L. Sev]

I agree! If you have read the short story by Lyn Venable, he really was the perfect choice to play the part!

[Chris]

He understood the role, just as we recognized the man.

[Relic]

I did one myself on A stop at Willoughby some years ago, also with a picture. No one read it. This is a fine poem and captures the essence of the story very well. Glad to see you're a fan. I have every episode on DVD. Great show.

Nice writing.

[Relic]

Oh yeah, I also have the books and magazines too. ha

[Rita L. Sev]

Thanks for reading and reviewing, Relic! Is your poem here on WC? I'd love to read it!

[Relic]

You're welcome.
No, its not. If I find it I'll send it to you in a PM.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this is one of my two favorite episodes...burgess meredith...

this poem captures that feeling so well...fate treats us so cruelly sometimes.

[Rita L. Sev]

Thank you, Jacob - yes, Burgess Meredith was perfect in this role. Just finished reading the short story to my class, and can't wait to show the episode tomorrow to compare. This popped out while doing the lesson plan for tomorrow. :)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

that's and idea..think i might use that video for my class...they need to read more...it is sad today how little young people read...and i have college students..they also never look up words they are not familiar with...they bypass them...sad sad...i plead with them to use the dictionary..

[Rita L. Sev]

This year, I actually have a few good readers, but you are right about unfamiliar words. I give them a "glossary" before reading short stories like this, and go through it with them before reading. It helps...but then, these are middle school students. Finding this in print was tough - it's in a collection of Twilight Zone stories. I love reading these stories first, then doing a comparison to the film version. We do this with Roald Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter, too (Alfred Hitchcock).