Did You Ever Wonder

Did you ever wonder
Where H. G. Wells, Sir Conan Doyle,
Margaret Mitchell and Clarence B. Kelland
Got their stuff?
I have
And now I know.

Psychology told me
They transport themselves to another world.
This explains where H. G. Wells got his ideas
Tf the world of the future.
He went there and saw it and came back
And told us.
Simple, huh?

And yet it isn't.
We know personally and intimately
Folks who have transported themselves to
These wonderful new worlds
On a one way Pullman ticket
But who don't have guts enough
To hitchhike their way back.
They are called "neurotics"

And end up in a mental hospital
Or suicide.
Because they went away
And couldn't get back.

We also know of folks who went away
And couldn't get back
They still haven't returned
And will probably die that way.
Nobody calls them anything
Because they don't cause a stir.
They, like the neurotics,
Have taken a one way ticket
To Pleasant Place
To avoid tremendous problems of
Livelihood
Sex
And social contacts

Now the Maker
Probably figured on producing a certain set
Who would retreat from these challenges
Into a super-fantastic land
Of his own making
So that there might be books, pictures, music
And statues.

It is our opinion
That He figured on a round trip ticket
But Adam forfeited his rightful power
For a measly old apple
Which probably had a worm in it
And as a result of the loss of this capacity
Fully seventy-nine percent of those
Who make the trip into the land
From which the "best sellers" are drawn
Don't have what it takes to come back
They are the people we call neurotic
Because they are nervous
And have to drink Ovaltine
In order to get to sleep
They "take themselves too seriously"
And are conscientious
They, in short, are defeatists.
Because they feel unable to stand up
To the terrors of
Livelihood
Sex
And social contacts.