The Keeper of Secrets

As boredom crept across the land

The people as if by command

Did rustle in their comfy beds

And form bad thoughts in nestled heads

They dreamt of waking, breaking free

From the tedium of harmony

They dreamt of money, dreamt of toys

Of breaking things and making noise

Of taking things and telling lies

And soon enough upon sunrise

They got up and had soon begun

The hurtful things that seemed such fun

Then guilt came like that boredom cloud

And made it so they weren’t allowed

To sleep in peace, they tossed and turned

And in their heads the secrets burned

A secret’s like an awful spell

That churns inside until you tell

They couldn’t do the things they did

And keep them safely, softly hid

The people held a meeting then

Their leader stood and said “My friends”

“We can’t go back to harmony”

“And from our secrets must be free”

“The fog of boredom must not come”

“The fog of guilt must be undone”

“To bring us back our nightly hum”

“I now propose we choose a one”

“To take all of our secrets in”

“All that we’ve done and where we’ve been”

“We’ll give to them all our unrest”

“Then go about our days unstressed”

The people shouted ‘yes indeed!’

It made such sense, they would be freed

But who might take this burden’s brunt?

Just then a woman stepped upfront

She said she’d never done a wrong

Though still her nights were tough and long

She’d never had a full night’s sleep

She might as well their secrets keep

And on that day it was declared

This woman who was raven haired

Would take in guests from East to West

And listen as the world confessed

The people came all day and night

And one by one left feeling light

For all the baggage that they brought

They left for her without a thought

The secrets filled her driveway soon

They spilled out of her every room

They piled high and blocked all doors

But still they brought them more and more

She took them all without one sigh

Every prank and every lie

Every punch and every theft

She waited ‘til there were none left

And then she called a meeting there

For all the people everywhere

She told them that she’d found a way

To cure their boredom night and day

The people they did surely come

Some in groups, some one by one

They owed it to her, they all said

She’d listened to them, cleared their heads

They found the house and the piles gone

And in that space were books and songs

Paintings stood and movies played

They stared in awe at what she’d made

Now make of this land what you will

Where boredom sometimes creeps up still

And even guilt you’ll sometimes find

But mostly people haven’t time

They’re far too busy in their brains

Taking stock and playing games

Making things that they can share

These people love it everywhere

That woman she has vanished now

I’d love to thank her, don’t know how

I do suspect that now she sleeps