The scribe scribbled on, long into the night.
His pencil dulled, as did the candlelight.
He shivered with cold and his fingers ached,
But he had a mission and it could not wait.
Life was his subject and this he knew well,
Now he had its story and wished it to tell.
His own had been lived to its utmost extent,
His mind was full with plenty of content.
He started at the beginning then drifted a mite.
He had re-edited and now the storyline was right.
He sat back and gazed at what he had wrote.
He felt a tear rise inside and he almost choked.
He had started off intending to write a happy tale,
But he had dwelt on too many occasions when all was not well.
With a sad heavy heart, he did rise.
Closing the cover to what now was his prize.
* * *
In the morning he rose and his book was not there.
He searched in a mood of despondency and fear.
Then he saw that things had changed,
Furniture had moved and been rearranged.
Where some sort of order existed before,
There were now cobwebs and dust-covered all but the door.
The entrance it seemed, had been used many times
The reason was in the corner, where sat many scribes.
He started to speak but they were all deaf,
He was saddened, disillusioned and bereft.
It was then that the notion entered his head,
His sanity was saved–he was simply dead.
© 2019, Daniel Kemp All rights reserved
About Daniel Kemp
At the age of seventy-six, Daniel Kemp has started his second year of studying the science of Psychology at the Open University. He is a member of The Society of Authors and also a bestselling writer. However, in early September 2025, he was diagnosed with cancer. He is now in palliative care at home, being looked after by his ex-wife. When he was writing his novels, he enjoyed writing stories that appealed to those who liked challenging themselves to solve mysteries that were set out before their eyes, but they couldn't.
His introduction to the world of espionage and mystery happened at an early age when his father was employed by the War Office in Whitehall, London, at the end of WWII. However, it wasn’t until after his father died that he showed any interest in anything other than himself!
On leaving academia he took on many roles in his working life: a London police officer, mini-cab business owner, pub tenant and licensed London taxi driver, but never did he plan to become a writer. Nevertheless, after a road traffic incident left him suffering from PTSD and effectively—out of paid work for four years, he wrote and self-published his first novel —The Desolate Garden.
Within three months of publication, that book was under a paid option to become a $30 million film. The option lasted for six years until distribution became an insurmountable problem for the production company.
All ten of his novels are now published by Next Chapter Publishing Company which has added an edition titled The Heirs And Descendants Collection, which holds all four books of that series, alongside an edition titled The Lies And Consequences Collection which contains all four volumes of that series.
He is the recipient of rave reviews from a prestigious Manhattan publication and described as—the new Graham Green—by a highly placed executive of Waterstones Books, for whom he did a countrywide tour of book signing events. He has also appeared on 'live' television in the UK publicising his first novel.
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Daniel Kemp 
oh, wow – the twist!
😛 I hope you liked it 😛
A beautifully written poem, Danny, although it has quite a sad ending.
Sometimes I wish I could write a good ending, but then……. Hmmm.